Ever Skyward
by Zura
Summary: When the crew of the ISV Centurion arrives in Pandora's orbit they are ready to start new lives in the most challenging environment known to man. However, things planet side have changed since they boarded the ship almost six years ago in the Sol system. Waiting below is not quite the welcome nor leader they were expecting to greet them. Conclusion of the "Skyward" series.
1. Chapter 1

The ship's cryostasis modules began the long process of returning its passengers to the land of the living. They had been decelerating for nearly six month and eight days before reaching the planet the rest of the crew began to wake. First were the commanding staff, the technicians and the medical corps. Captain James Alberon was among the first to be brought out of the death-like torpor. Though he was responsible for the ship's voyage he deemed himself unnecessary to the actual navigation part.

This trip marked the second and final of his commanded vessels to the Alpha Centauri system. Through the preservation of the deep sleep technology and time dilation effects he'd already spent nearly 18 years crossing the nearly unfathomable distance to Pandora. He often thought of the fact that this extreme distance was a baby step by the standards of the known universe. The way back would still cost him another six years just to enjoy the fruits of his labor. It was a price he was willing to pay to be set for the rest of his days when he returned home.

It would be another three days before they would loop around the blue gas giant and make the jump from its orbit to Pandora's. Two days until the rest of the crew and their passengers would awaken to prepare for the journey to the surface. Alberon would remain on the ship until it was time to leave the system. He'd already seen the sights below and had decided that once was enough for him.

Assisted by a metal walking aid he made his way through the ship's body the 52 year old captain would be able to set aside the staff by the end of the day. Though he was technically 70 according to his birthday the aid was merely the effects of cryostasis. Quite a fit man if an old one Alberon was told he reminded others of a sea captain without the beard. It was a compliment to him and an accurate summation of his character.

Entering the commissary he found his three immediate junior officers freshly awake. They were the highest ranking on the ship and his good personal friends after the first assignment to Pandora. Sipping coffee and chatting they stood to salute him as he entered.

"As you were." Alberon nodded and joined them at the table. A steaming mug of good Earth java was pushed his general direction.

"Good morning Captain." Deyshana Biggs, his chief navigational officer and second Valkyrie pilot, greeted. Next to her sat Brian Deskel who held the distinction of being the most experienced Valkyrie pilot on board. Across from them and to the left of Alberon was the ship's head engineer Martin Nguyen.

"Morning's an abstract thing in space Ensign." Alberon smiled and sipped the coffee. Taste buds that seemed to have forgotten what they had been made for sprung to life on contact with the liquid.

"You seem to be in a good mood for someone just out of cryo, Captain." Deskel noted.

"Usually I'm pissed I'm alive after getting out of that coffin but now I feel good." Alberon confessed. "Next time I wake up there's gonna be a bonus and solid ground waiting for me."

"I'm glad you're well sir. I feel like my head's been used to play gyroball for six straight years." Nguyen groaned.

"That's just that big brain of yours defrosting." Biggs joked.

"Guess that means you don't feel a thing huh 'Shana?"

Alberon chuckled as the ensign flicked coffee at the smaller man. It felt good to know that this mission was nearly half over. All that remained was dropping off and picking up.

"What's it look like Lieutenant?" he asked Nguyen.

"Everything is tip top Captain. No problems with our sleepers, shields have held up fine and we're cramming the mainline now. About the only thing that isn't routine is a message we picked up over the superluminals."

"What was it?"

"Real short Captain, I don't know if it was a joke or what. It just said, 'Go home'."

"Really." Alberon scratched his chin. "That's not something you like to hear when you first wake up. If it _is_ someone's idea of a joke, I'll have their brass."

With that Alberon climbed to his feet. "Keep an eye on things. These old legs need some exercise."

The next three days passed rapidly as the calm ship became very noisy in a short amount of time. Empty halls and meeting areas brimmed with passengers excitedly talking about their planet side plans. Alberon made it a point to visit every area of operation to check in with the crew. He very much believed in a hands on approach to leadership.

They had been orbiting Pandora three hours before the command staff gathered in the small bridge. Seated behind Biggs and Deskel Alberon chatted with Nguyen while the viewing slot gave them a panoramic view of Pandora. Behind it Polyphemus loomed large even with its moon filling their vision. Biggs tapped on her holographic monitors like a machine as she opened the comm channel to the base far below them.

"Hell's Gate Tower this is ISV _Centurion_ on flight sixty-niner-one from Earth. Come in, over."

In a few moments a large viewing screen dropped down in front of the two pilots to both send and receive transmissions from the ground. It lit up with power but the screen itself remained black and inert. Despite the lack of image the audio buzzed to confirm its proper performance.

"Loud and clear _Centurion_ you're right on time. What's your status, over." the speaker squawked.

"On schedule for 0800 local time Valkyrie departure, control. We're not getting an image up here, any problems ground side, over."

"Nothing major _Centurion_. How did you all sleep, over."

Biggs turned to grin back at her colleagues. "Like a hundred or so logs, control. Requesting clearance for shuttle landing, ETA two hours, over."

There was a long pause that did not sit well with Alberon. This kind of thing was planned out years in advance and asking for permission to land was more a formality than anything. There was either something wrong with the equipment or something wrong with the person on the other end. Either option made him wary.

"Permission denied, _Centurion_." came the voice over the box. Three heads swiveled back to look at Alberon who stood up from his chair as the voice continued. "Please put your senior officer on the comm."

"This is Captain James Alberon, I want to know the meaning of this delay along with your name and rank soldier." he demanded.

The comm went quiet for a few moments before the formerly blank digital screen exploded with color. Reclining in a giant, makeshift chair a blue skinned alien filled the screen. He sat wearing an over sized T shirt and jeans that fit his muscular form well. His hair was braided with small decorations tied into it. Looking very calm he relaxed in what appeared to be the Hell's Gate control tower. Behind him no other people – or aliens – moved and he wore no mask.

"Hey there." he said in perfect English and was obviously the person they had been talking to. "Nice to meet ya."

Alberon and his men sat in stunned silence. Even with the shock holding his tongue the captain was already assessing the situation from the limited visual information at hand. The normally bustling tower was abandoned and filled with natural Pandoran atmosphere. The airfield was among the most heavily fortified and least likely to fall of any Alberon had even heard of. Something had gone terribly wrong during the six years they spent getting here.

"You guys don't talk much do you?" the alien said cheerfully.

"Who...are you?" Alberon stammered after finding his voice.

"Jake Sully." the alien answered. "You'll be hearing a lot about me when you get home I think."

"You sent us that message didn't you." Alberon figured. "Is everyone dead?"

"Of course not." the alien named Sully replied as if this was something impossible. "They're heading back as we speak. I regret to inform you the RDA has suspended operations on Pandora permanently. This base has – oh it's called St. Augustine now by the way – this base has no RDA staff or military presence anymore."

"What?"

"Is this a joke...?"

"Can't be..."

"Quiet." Alberon ordered as he thought rapidly. Hell's Gate or whatever is was called was one of the toughest, most well armed military installations ever established. It was a stronghold that prospered in the harshest conditions known to man and had firepower famous even on Earth.

"Can I ask what happened?" Alberon inquired carefully.

The alien Sully's face darkened. "Your fellow employees waged a war they were certain they could win. It didn't end well for anyone. In the end we let your...coworkers leave before any more blood was shed."

"Who made that choice?"

Sully rested a giant chin on his blue palm. "I imagine Parker Selfridge did."

"I know Selfridge. He'd never do anything that stupid." Alberon guaranteed.

"You didn't know him very well then I guess." Sully scoffed. "He wanted unobtanium so bad he was willing to let SpecOps fire on unarmed women and children. They did and that's the reason you're talking to me now."

The captain could not begin to formulate a response to that if it was true. It was all wrong. The RDA had long stressed their philanthropic and goodwill efforts toward the native populace. How could things have gone so badly?

"Don't worry, we have proof." Sully said as if reading his mind. "We loaded some of it onto the first ISV that's on its way back. I almost wish I could see the look on their faces when it begins broadcasting."

"Who...what are you?" Alberon asked, unable to control his curiosity.

"I'm Jake." he answered naturally.

"You have to be from Earth. If you're an avatar driver then you're RDA but you keep talking like you're not."

"I was a driver a while ago." Sully admitted. "Not my style anymore."

Alberon avoided the nonsensical answer and asked, "So there's still humans on the base?"

"Yep."

"And you're one of them?"

"No. I used to be." Sully corrected.

"I don't follow you."

"It's a long story Captain. For now, we have to talk about your ship."

"My ship?"

"Well, you've got two options. You can turn around and go home now or you can come down and say hi. But if you want to do that, there's gonna be some conditions."

* * *

The mess hall was crowded and raucous with boisterous conversation bouncing off the metal walls. It was hard to hear let alone think but Claire Rouga huddled next to her fellow avatar drivers Huey Belgin and Don Lee. She looked out from underneath short, straight auburn hair framing a rounded, pale skinned face. Her small nose often required glasses and the rest of her could have used some gym time. Her looks were modest but her brown eyes were sharp and her intellect sharper.

Only two years out from finishing her Ph. D in Pandoran xenobiology being an avatar driver had been her life's goal. On Earth she went through the rigorous training together with the two men she sat with now. Don, a huge, portly man with a red beard and colossal laugh and Huey, a taller, hawk nosed man from New York. Both were experts in theirs fields, cellular composition and geology respectively. All three of them were eager to start their work on Pandora.

"I hope they have better pizza than this." Huey had to half shout at them. "I can't stand this stuff. It's like they baked cardboard."

"Where d'ya think they'll get tomatoes from on Pandora?" Don questioned in a bemused tone. "Flour? Pepperoni?"

"They'll bring it along with? Right? Right? Claire?" Huey tried to confirm in a slightly alarmed manner.

Claire laughed easily at his genuine concern. "Get used to it Hew. You'll be dining on tapirus down there. It's kind of a pig looking thing."

"Wait, are you guys serious?" Huey said with his voice turning slightly shrilled.

Don leaned over and said with a certain amount of satisfaction, "You better start filling your pockets with some of that cardboard buddy. It's gonna be a long time before you see it again."

The beleaguered man looked to be seriously considering that when a blinking light came on above them and the entertainment screens shut off. Conversation died quickly as ship personnel began filing into the mess hall from every entrance. At first Claire thought it was a drill but she recognized the color coded jumpsuits from all different parts of the ship. Something big was happening and soon it was standing room only.

The people in front of her blocked her view so Claire stood up on the bench she had been sitting on. With a clear line to the front she saw the ship's captain come in with the last of the crew. He was an older, frightening man flanked by a cadre of sub officers. When he began to speak his voice boomed across the room without mechanical aid.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention please." It was an unnecessary introduction as the hall was as quiet as a graveyard.

"I know many of you have been looking forward to this trip for some time or have trained years for the right to be here. Some of you have a lot personally invested in our endeavor. So I fully understand your disappointment when I say this."

"The RDA has ceased operations on Pandora as of further notice. Many of you will not be leaving the _Centurion_ until we have returned-"

Whatever else the captain was saying was drowned out by the bedlam that broke out around her. Everyone in the room seemed to be trying to talk all at once. Claire herself was completely speechless. There had to have been a mistake. Had to.

Turning back to her friends she saw confusion and disbelief that was surely mirrored on her face. Looking back to the front of the room the captain had his hands up and was waiting patiently for the uproar to expire. Watching, stupefied, Claire could only wait to hear why the mission she'd spent years of her life training for had suddenly been canceled.

"Listen, listen please." the captain bellowed. "It seems reports of cooperation with the indigenous were...exaggerated. Hostilities broke out during our trip and our guys were already sent packing."

"We can either go home now or try to talk to them. Myself and my advisors will be heading down to try to piece together what happened. The native representative agreed to a peaceful summit at the base formerly known as Hell's Gate. They have approved a short list of you to accompany me. This roster will be posted immediately. If you are not on the list you will remain on the _Centurion_ until further notice. Those who are report to Shuttle Bay A with your gear in the next thirty minutes. Direct any questions to my staff."

The captain turned to walk out of the mess hall and the room broke out in agitated chatter. The entertainment screens began to show a slowly scrolling list of names that Claire could not read without her glasses on. Around her people argued while crew members passed out stacks of paper with the names on them. Jumping down she pushed through the throngs of other passengers to get to someone with information she needed. Snatching a copy from a crewman Claire pressed it to her chest and slipped through the people going the opposite direction.

Smoothing out the paper on the table near the others all heads around her crowded around for a glimpse at the letters that would decide their future. Scanning it quickly Claire was surprised to find her name along with Huey and Don's. Looking up at their still bewildered faces she gave them a thumb's up before jostling her way out of the mess hall.

Twenty five minutes later she was in the loading bay for the shuttle that would take them to the surface. Finding her friends was no trouble at all; besides the scattering of fatigues there was only about twenty people waiting to be checked in.

"Guys." she said finding the pair taking in low voices.

"What do you think?" Huey asked anxiously. Though he was normally a ball of nerves on a good day stressful situations turned the world class scientist inside out.

"I didn't come all this way to head back without even seeing the damn planet." Don rumbled. "If they say we can go I say we take the chance. Might not get another one."

"I'm with Don on this one." Claire agreed. "At least this way we can say we were there. If the captain's going then they definitely won't be leaving without us."

"But why us?" Huey wondered apprehensively.

"We all speak Na'vi. Maybe they need translators." Clarie reasoned.

"I don't know, I don't like the sound of this. What if they take us hostage?"

"Hew, you're being a wuss even for us geeks." Don snapped. "Stay here if you're so worried."

Claire was about to come to his defense when the captain entered the loading bay with his pilots. All words fell in the air and the gray haired man took his place in front of them.

"Listen up people." he said in his commanding voice. "This is no longer a routine mission. It's not even a mission at all anymore. That planet down there is no longer the new frontier with new lives waiting for you. We're visitors on foreign soil and we are not welcome. They have agreed not to harm us yes but nothing is for sure."

"All of you were picked by name to be allowed to see Pandora. None of you have military training but that doesn't matter since they have forbidden us to bring any weapons. We'll be totally defenseless. We have to hope they are true to their word. If you have any doubts, I urge you to stay here. Everyone else, load up."

Claire turned towards the waiting shuttle but Huey stood still like a statue.

"C'mon Hew, let's get on board."

"No." he said resolutely.

"Hew-"

"Not this time." the tall man said as he set down his pack. "I didn't sign up for this. I came to study tectonics. Not to end up on the business end of a Na'vi spear."

"Hew, be reasonable." Claire begged.

"I am. It's you two who are taking the risk. Go on if you want to. I'm staying."

"Huey!" Don snorted.

"My mind's made up. You get on that shuttle and you might not come back. No thanks. I'm going home."

The geologist began to walk away from them and Claire found it hard to believe he could just ignore the chance to see Pandora when it was only meters away.

"Hey. Hey! Hew! Come on!" she yelled after him.

"Send me a postcard." he called back without stopping.

"Hew!" she shouted but he was already disappearing behind a curve. Shaken by his resolve Claire speculated on her own. Her decision didn't seem as clear cut as it had been moments before. While she did not think herself a coward the captain's words began to hit home.

"Come on Claire." Don urged. "They'll leave without us."

Watching him get in line and turn over his pack for inspection Claire took a deep breath. Below them Pandora and the Na'vi waited. Don was right. They had come too far to just turn back now. For better or worse she would take their offer to see them in the flesh.

"Here goes nothing." she said to herself and took her place in the queue.


	2. Chapter 2

The shuttle cut through the dense cloud cover with sonic boom speed. It would glide down in a controlled fall prior to leveling out a few thousand kilometers from the the surface when the heavy engines would fire up. Ensign Deskel was a well trained pilot who could handle the ISV's incredibly complex controls if need be. Though the cockpit of the Valkyrie was no less confusing to a layman to Alberon and the ensign it was much more simplistic. The _Centurion_ had the same amount of instruments simply for the deceleration process.

It was a short flight down as they had waited for the planet's revolution to bring the base close to their entry point. After cruising for less than thirty minutes they would be coming upon the mine in under ten. Alberon could tell his engineer was growing more uncomfortable the closer they came to the mine by the way his hands fidgeted.

"I don't like this, boss." Nguyen said for the sixtieth time in a different way.

"Was an optional trip Lieutenant." Alberon reminded him.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't about to let my captain land unarmed among a bunch of savages that'll probably end up skinning us all alive."

"That's exactly what we're doing though."

"At least this way you won't be alone." Nguyen offered.

Over the intercom a voice interrupted them. "TAV six-oh-six you're clear to begin your approach. Strip A is ready for your arrival."

"Roger St. Augie Tower, ETA nine minutes twenty five seconds." Deskel rattled off. Unlike his engineer his pilot was a consummate professional and there was no trace of unease in his voice.

"What if this is a trap? What if they're hostile?" Nguyen worried and scanned the window.

"What's the worst case scenario Marty? They blow up the shuttle? They skin us alive as you put it? Biggs gets everyone home and the next crew on the way knows better."

"Well that's a relief for them." Nguyen grumbled. "At least we know if they try to pull something we can just take off again. I don't think bows and arrows are going to stop us."

"Tell that to Parker Selfridge. Never underestimate the the determination of people shoved down into the mud and shot at. How would you feel if the company that burned your house to the ground and killed a bunch of your relatives came back a year later to make friends?"

"_Allegedly_ did those things."

While he'd been quiet so far Deskel pointed out, "But that wasn't us. We didn't do any of that."

"Says RDA on the side of this bird doesn't it?" Alberon challenged.

When the mine came into view Nguyen sprang to the windows and Alberon joined him to get a good look at what they were getting themselves into. He'd been well acquainted with the visual clues leading up to the mine from his previous trips. He wasn't particularly fond of the area but as a pilot he'd memorized with near photographic detail the layout of the mine and their approach. The captain was eager to see what had changed.

The massive pit style mine was usually bustling with activity that could be seen even from the Valkyrie. It used to be a beige and brown thing of dust and steppes. Now it seemed to be halfway through growing itself a green blanket. Many of the steep walls and crags remained bare but a surprising amount of the deeper parts of the mine were bursting with foliage. Alberon spotted the giant bucket wheel excavators dormant and possibly in pieces.

Passing over the mine they came to the base proper. Here it looked nothing like what the old captain remembered. The thick underbrush had grown up to the base's fence and threatened to push it down. The ever steaming refinery that was the core of the RDA's mission no longer belched smoke into the air. He couldn't be sure but Alberon swore there were buildings missing and some he didn't remember ever being there in the first place.

The shuttle was expertly guided over the outside limits of the base to its designated spot on the airfield. Below them a mass of moving objects caught Alberon's eye. At first he did not realize what he was looking at until they started their descent. He did not believe his eyes when it became apparent what below them was a sea of Na'vi camped around the airstrip waiting for them like a crowd of funeral mourners. Up to this point Alberon had been cautiously optimistic about their chances. Now the only thing keeping him from turning around was his duty to investigate the allegations against the RDA and the promise that they would not be harmed.

Of course if they _were_ hostile there wouldn't be much the humans could do about it. There were hundreds of them out there but as they came within dozens of meters of the ground Alberon spotted something he did not expect. Breaking up the brown and blue of the natives were towering metal gray AMP suits with autocannons cocked. Inside were no Na'vi but humans. The situation was worse than he thought. If the Na'vi were assisted to this degree then it would be far harder to pick up mining where they left off.

"Jesus..." Deskel breathed even as his hands flipped switches and tapped screens.

"Just set her down son." Alberon said gently. He was just as concerned but did not need to add any extra fear to their situation.

"Sir...captain! Those are AMP suits down there!" Nguyen exclaimed a tad late. "Those rounds are thirty friggin' mill! They'd turn us into swiss cheese!"

Alberon did some mental calculations looking at the quickly approaching ground. "You worry too much Martin." he said, at ease for the moment. "There's some good news in all this."

"What's that?"

"We're in range of those GAUs and they haven't shot us out of the sky yet."

At last the massive shuttle set down on the weather beaten tarmac and sent a thundering jolt through the craft. Deskel was still flipping switches and shutting down the engines but his eyes were out on the hundreds of natives watching them. "Well, we're here Captain. What now?"

"Let's go see if we'll be getting out of here with our skins still attached shall we?"

The cargo bay was almost completely empty except for a few large containers of a non-military nature. The passengers were still unbuckling themselves and pulling on bags when Alberon and his men came down from the cockpit with their exopacks already on.

"Masks on! One minute to depressurization!" He barked and scattered random scientists out of his way. They hurried to assemble at the end of the ship where captain was headed. Taking his place he put his hand up on the large lever that would open the rear hatch and counted off the seconds to himself. By 55 alligators the crowd around him was ready to go with eager eyes. They didn't know what was waiting for them only meters away. He opened the hatch.

The rear of the shuttle hissed with hydraulic anger and broke the seal that had protected them from the vacuum of space. Oxygen brushed by to escape its confinement and toxic atmosphere took its place. The hatch folded down to form a ramp and gave the passengers a view of the army waiting for them. Some cries went out at the sight but Alberon walked fearlessly down the ramp towards the small group of humans and Na'vi in front of the crowd.

As they closed in a taller, spindly man in a vest came forward to meet them. Alberon stopped a conservative four meters from the clearly at ease man.

"Captain James Alberon, Lieutenant Nguyen and Ensign Deskel of the ISV _Centurion_." the captain gestured at the men at his flanks. "Are you speaking for the natives?"

"Nah." said vest man. "I'm just the ambassador."

"Who are you?" Alberon demanded. Something caught his ear from far away that seemed familiar but was too distant to put his finger on.

"Norm Spellman. I'll be your tour guide."

"Where's Jake Sully?"

"Oh he'll be here in a minute. He's fond a grand entrance."

From out of sight that sound grew louder and clearer until Alberon recognized the distinct _whirrr!_ of a Scorpion's dual rotor blades. The chopper came from the trees into view like a black metal specter casting a deathly shadow over the base. Armed with enough missiles to level a small settlement it could easily blow the shuttle to kingdom come. There wouldn't be enough left to bring to the scrap heap.

The Scorpion hovered above them before lowering itself down next to the Valkyrie and only meters from where they stood. The din caused by the engines almost drowned out the sounds of panic coming from the people behind the captain. Air beat down on them wildly and Alberon glanced over his shoulder to see how the rest of the humans were reacting. All of them, even his staff, were shrinking from the noise and force of the aircraft.

It touched down and the vicious wind began to lessen as the fan engines slowed down. Squinting through the force of the air Alberon tried to get a good look at the pilot but to his dismay the windows had been tinted. Tense seconds ticked by and behind him the humans began to recover.

Both doors of the cockpit opened and out jumped two heavily armed Na'vi. It took a moment watching them pull weapons out of the cabin for Alberon to put together just what he was seeing. Shock involuntarily registered on his grizzled face. He continued waiting for a pilot to come out but there didn't seem to be anything else in the chopper but more guns. If there was no human pilot then the Scorpion would have to be heavily modified to allow an over 3 meter tall Na'vi to operate it.

While he would mull this over later it was the advancing Jake Sully that Alberon was presently perturbed by. Gone was the casual outfit they had seen him in before. Wearing a grand necklace of large talons Sully was a walking armory. He had a special harness made of leather loaded with grenades and bullet clips covering nearly the entirety of his left rib cage. Criss crossing his chest were a pair of knives, one a wickedly curved bone knife and the other a straight edged metal blade the captain recognized as a special forces design. Strapped to each thigh in custom leather holsters were massive handguns that Alberon had never seen before. Slung over his shoulder was a magnificent gray war bow heavily decorated with bone spikes and a lion motif.

The Na'vi female walking alongside him was no less well geared. Wearing a similar harness she wasn't loaded with bullets but rows of bunker-busting shells for the massive hand mortar resting against her clavicle. Grenades hung from her rig like bunches of grapes and Alberon realized with horror that their high tech weapons were made to scale. He hadn't noticed it at first since they looked so right on their Na'vi bearers. Both the sidearms on Sully and cannon the female cradled had been made specifically to suit their giant hands.

The captain came to the quick conclusion that re-establishing normal operations on Pandora was a fantasy. With modern or close to modern weaponry tailored for indigenous use combined with its possible mastery the natives would pose a significantly greater threat. It would not be as simple as setting up a perimeter and appeasing local tribes. The RDA could not subjugate the entire planet armed with their own guns.

They cut right towards the frightened humans and clanked with every step. As they came up it was by strength of will that Alberon did not flinch or back down even as the pair towered over him. He was unable to stop himself from getting a good look at the custom guns Sully wore. They were almost a meter long, revolvers, single action if he had to guess. They were likely able to fit auto cannons rounds and that made them a different beast. Only the heaviest, slowest tanks specifically built to deflect armor piercing rounds could resist such firepower. They were also prohibitively expensive and would be near impossible to effectively deploy in a hostile jungle setting.

"Welcome to Pandora." Sully boomed over the sound of his own slowly quieting Scorpion. "I'm Jake Sully, _txan_ _olo'eyktan_ of all Na'vi. I speak for the entire population."

Holding up a gargantuan arm Sully made a signal in the air. From the right a detachment of six Na'vi warriors – all carrying AVR M30s, properly too – separated from the rest of the horde. Two of them took a place behind Spellman and the other four continued past the space weary humans into the Valkyrie.

"As long as you have kept your end of the agreement and obey our commands, no harm will come to you. My brothers will search your ship for illegal cargo and unload what we've asked for. I will join you in a little while; my ambassador to Earth Norm Spellman will take you into the base where everything will be explained."

The ambassador in the vest turned and exchanged words with the two Na'vi standing behind him. "Everyone, please come this way." Spellman shouted and began walking towards the base. Sully shifted his vision down to the trio of RDA officers.

"We will speak in private, Captain." Sully intoned almost like a command. "For now I have to go tell everyone you're no threat to them."

Alberon nodded stiffly and turned to follow the procession of scientists into the old building. Walking away from the shuttle the captain watched Sully out of the corner of his eye. The Na'vi leader stood before the assembled masses and held up his bow, shouting something at them. The gathered aliens responded by shouting back in unison so loud that it shook the ground they walked on. They were still chanting when the humans entered the bunker that did little to block out the resonate sound of their voices.

* * *

The Omaticaya dispersed back to their temporary camps around St. Augustine. Jake began throwing his gear back into the Scorpion while Neytiri stripped off the cumbersome ammunition she'd been loaded down with. As soon as their visitors were safely inside a man near the base's entrance furiously waved an orange flag. The scientists inside the AMP suits put on exopacks and climbed out of the weapons while heavy duty forklifts raced out of the armory building. Jake had long ago destroyed the ability of the remaining AMP suits on Pandora to move should the RDA ever come back but they could still be placed and effectively posed.

It was true that Jake had to spend much time and effort to modify his personal Scorpion and Samson crafts to fit his Na'vi frame. What was less obvious was that he remained the lone pilot among his people. Many of the RDA's airborne corps had been decimated in war by the Na'vi and Eywa herself. This left few craft for training and even less volunteers. Of course their guests did not need to know such things.

Dr. Max Patel approached the Scorpion as Jake finished piling the excessive arms he was wearing into the rear. He had been a husky Saudi man when Jake first met him but since then he had lost weight and gained considerable muscle mass. His face was thinner and free of the scraggly black beard he used to wear. While Norm was in charge of keeping the visitors entertained Max was in charge of the behind the scenes work.

"That went well." Jake said as he came up.

"Are you kidding Jake? Did you see their faces when you came out the Scorpion?"

"Nah. I was too busy looking badass."

"I thought some of them were gonna start crying."

"You did well." Neytiri complimented as she came around the side of the craft.

"Thanks sweetness. You did great yourself, grrr!, scary." he said while making claws with his hands.

"The suits were a stroke of genius." Max beamed. "They can't even move but the newcomers are probably still holding their breath."

"I have my moments." Jake agreed. "How's it look on your end?"

"We're short a couple Ph Ds. One of them was a driver." Max reported.

"Too bad." Jake shrugged. "Make sure the avatars are in the bio lab by the time Norm brings them around."

"You got it Jake."

"What about the other thing?"

"Me and Stan are working on it. Gonna be a piece of cake. I don't think the RDA expected something like this so maybe two days to crack the codes."

"Good, good, good, that's what I like to hear." the one time avatar driver approved.

A loading dolly reminiscent of the kind used to haul baggage at Earth airports came speeding up alongside the Scorpion. Jake's mechanical ace Mike Dowds climbed off to talk.

"We happy Mike?"

"We happy chief. Year or more worth of medical supplies, dehydrated packs, spare exos, parts, everything we asked for. Hell, they even tossed in the latest holovids from Earth."

"Hot damn. Good news all around." Jake commended.

"We'll have it all inside in under an hour, put away in a couple more."

"Good, get it done."

"Aye aye chief." Dowds replied and hopped back onto his speeder, hurrying away.

"Bio lab?" Max asked.

"Bio lab. I know you're a doctor and all Max but so are most of them so try to use big words." Jake suggested wryly. Max smiled and gave him the finger before heading back towards the base. Jake exhaled a short breath and turned his attention to the next task. Beside him he noticed Neytiri had a small smile on her face and an amused sparkle in her eye.

"What?"

Her smile widened and she wrapped her arms around his neck lovingly. "Nothing..." she said in a coy fashion.

"Yeah right, I know that look."

"I think of my father. That he would be pleased to see you be _olo'eyktan_ now."

Jake turned away and would have blushed if Na'vi physiology allowed it. "Tch, nuh uh, shut up. You think so?"

"Mmmm." she murmured.

"You want to ride back with me before I talk to them?"

"_Kehe_." she shook her head. "It is stuffed in that machine."

"Stuffed? You mean stuffy?"

"_Srane_, stuffy. I will go, make food." she promised and kissed him on the cheek.

"Yeah, I have to go too. _Olo'eyktan_'s work is never done."


	3. Chapter 3

The roaring of hundreds of Na'vi accompanied them into the base's main airlock. It sounded something 'our land' or 'this land' but Claire couldn't be sure. While they lost their exopacks their two Na'vi escorts put on masks of their own. They fit around their faces but instead of an attached box they wrapped around the back to some kind of lump. Considering they were headed into an oxygen heavy environment she guessed that the apparatus added the compounds the Na'vi needed to breathe normally.

They were ushered into a large room with rows of cafeteria tables laid out for their use. The room could likely hold the staff of the entire base operating at its height if they all crammed in. The small group moved to the back of the room where great windows looked out at the lush forest a kilometer or so out. Norm Spellman took a place just in front of the shutters that gave them their view. Loitering by the door the two Na'vi guards stood with their heads scraping the ceiling and eyes on the humans from under their giant exopacks. The number of modern technologies the Na'vi had already adapted to both amazed and unnerved the xenobiologist. Seeing Na'vi emerge from a highly sophisticated RDA vehicle came as a shock to her system. It seemed conflict with the humans greatly accelerated their advancement by necessity.

As everyone took seats and removed gear Spellman cleared his throat. He did not look as comfortable as he did outside which didn't make much sense as he had nothing to fear unlike the rest of the people in the room.

"Ahem...uh...well, welcome." he said at last. Public speaking certainly didn't seem to be his forte.

"I'm Norm. I was a uh, an avatar driver when I first came to Pandora. I worked with Dr. Grace Augustine before she was...killed by the former head of security here. I lost my avatar fighting the RDA. I know, the RDA I worked for. I shot bullets at the people that used to be my coworkers. And I'm not the least bit sorry about doing it.

"Some of you may consider me a traitor and uh...maybe you're right. But most of you don't know how things really worked here. I know I didn't."

The ambassador pressed a few buttons on the remote he'd been concealing in his hand. Behind him the shutters folded down, the lights dimmed and the room turned into a theater. A projector lit up and displayed a giant screen along the back wall.

"The RDA had a habit of recording everything. Part of the science y'know. They had cameras in every hallway, on every tower, on their mining equipment. What you're going to see if footage we've compiled and edited together to tell you our story. It'll uh, do a better job than I can."

Spellman moved from the front of the room to sit down with them. The screen lit up with an outside camera that kept watch over the exterior of a much different base. People, trucks, equipment, AMP suits all scurried around like ants in a colony. In the air ships came and went overhead and It captured the arrival of a Valkyrie which opened its cargo bay to allow a steam of people to run from it. Moments after everyone else had seemingly left a pale, buzzed headed man in a wheelchair came rolling down the ramp.

The video switched to the first video log of that man who identified himself as Jake Sully and explained how he came to be on Pandora. Replacing a twin brother gunned down on Earth the former marine looked out of place in the lab setting around him. In the background Norm Spellman and another man Claire knew she had seen a picture of before worked in many of his entries.

The logs chronicled Sully's near death experience on his first mission and being taken in by the local Na'vi. He talked about being sent there by the RDA's head honchos to learn about the Na'vi in order to make them relocate or to properly hit their Hometree if they wouldn't go. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Back on Earth the RDA was one of the most respected companies around. That they would sanction something like this was unthinkable.

Beginning a new round of logs at a remote site Sully described in great detail his initiation and education in the ways of the Omaticaya tribe. While he spoke images of the Na'vi he referenced showed up on screen a few seconds. Over the course of many logs he spoke at first derisively of his lessons but gradually began to change his tone even as his physical condition worsened. He grew to be sincere in his admiration for the Na'vi and his teacher Neytiri in particular even as he lost himself in his training. Claire was engrossed in the details and time seemed to slide by.

When Sully talked about completing the last stage of becoming one of the Omaticaya the log suddenly switched to a view of a bulldozer. It was busy destroying foliage when it came upon a sacred site, a tree holy to the Na'vi. Claire watched with horror as the dozer began to roll over the area despite a Na'vi trying to get them to stop. After pausing a few second the dozer continued on its path. When they saw the Na'vi next he was using a rock to smash the dozer operator's cameras. The video froze the frame on the face of the Na'vi; she realized it was Jake Sully in his avatar.

The next set of images were a roller coaster ride on the front a gunship traveling along with nearly a dozen others through the trees. They came upon a massive tree with the entire Omaticaya clan in front of it. The zoom focused on two prisoners they were holding, Sully and another avatar that could only be Grace Augustine's. What happened next she knew was coming but refused to believe it until it happened.

First they shot gas into the bowels of the tree before the squadron opened fire on the its structure. The blasts rocked the area and even from that vantage point one could see Na'vi being injured by the explosions. When the bottom of the tree gave out and it began to fall Claire gasped out loud. A tremor ran through the room of both angry and sickened reactions.

The next set of videos were back on the base where Sully, Spellman and Augustine were trying to resist being forcibly removed from the avatar link room and thrown into the brig. A day later their pilot, a woman sometimes in the background of some of Sully's logs, broke them out and the four escaped in a Samson.

Here they had an actual video log that showed a speech from an ugly looking man with facial scars. It took her a moment to realize that they were now sitting the same room as the people recorded by the security camera and watching the same projector. The ugly man spoke of destroying a site so unbelievably important she could hardly understand why the people from the base were cheering.

From the vantage point of many different aircraft they then viewed a savage battle between the Na'vi and the RDA. Many Na'vi died to the guns of the soldiers and many viewpoints ended by crashing into the ground. They saw glimpses of someone riding – somehow! - a _leonopteryx rex_ and a Valkyrie crashing to the ground in a massive explosion.

The view switched back to a bustling control room coordinating the battle. In the center was Parker Selfridge watching the screens in growing discomfort. The video snapped to the outside of the base where a giant, yellow machine ambled along towards the front of the base. The busy technicians did not notice until it was too late when the machine smashed through the front of the Ops Center. A half dozen avatars slid down the arm of the machine into the building with guns drawn.

The last log they viewed was the final entry from Sully. He spoke of never returning to the base even though he must have if nothing else to use his avatar. He talked about having a birthday celebration for himself which she did not understand. At the end of the cryptic log the presentation concluded and the lights came up. Claire looked over at Don and on his normally jovial face was disgust and outrage.

Norm took his place at the front of the room again and opened the shutters to allow the daylight in. He looked as distressed as the rest of them despite having lived through what they had seen.

"I died that day." Norm began in a sorrowful but firm tone. "I mean that literally. My avatar took three bullets to the chest. I felt my heart slowly break down and stop with people – friends – dying all around me. I can tell you if you've never died, it doesn't feel good."

"We lost a lot that day. Everyone was a brother or a sister, a friend or an ally. I lost someone very important to me. So call me a traitor if you want. I don't care. I would rather be called a hundred names or be put up in front of a firing squad than to have sat in this base doing nothing."

Silence dominated the room with only the faint sound of the forest leaking in from far away. Their ambassador had his head lowered in reverie and distress on his features. When his head came up he banished whatever was on his mind.

"We move." he said to the guards at the rear of the room in Na'vi. They bowed their heads and ambled out of the room.

"Captain Alberon." Norm addressed the stony faced man near the back. "Our escorts will take you to meet with Jake. The rest of you will be touring the base with me. You can ask questions along the way."

People started to collect their things but Claire was still dumbstruck by what she'd seen. Facing Don again she shook her head sadly. "Hew was right. We shouldn't have come down here."

"You're wrong." Don disagreed. "What could we change up there hiding in a space ship? I know now more than ever we made the right choice."

Claire didn't know what to think. First she had been afraid for her safety but now she wondered who it was that deserved to be feared. There were no answers but she gathered her pack and followed Norm Spellman anyway.

* * *

Ushered into an airlock the silent Na'vi guards made face motions towards Alberon and his two subordinates. Slipping on their exopacks the Na'vi operated the controls themselves and opened the door to a grassy area with training equipment. One was in front and the other behind as the humans were led to a small log cabin with windows cut out but no glass set in. Jake Sully sat behind a large desk made for his size in a matching chair. Draped over the back of the chair in plain sight were his 30mm pistols. Like many of the things they'd seen so far the implied threats were all around them yet never used to threaten outright.

Three normal sized chairs were in front of the desk which Sully gestured to. He said something to the escorts who bowed slightly and left the small building. "How was your trip?" he asked cordially as they took their seats.

Alberon mused on this a moment before responding. "Uneventful. It's not the trip that's so bad or even the food. It's what's changed when you get back. It doesn't seem like a long time in the grand scheme of things...but my kids are almost as old as I am now."

Sully actually laughed at this. It was hard to believe the easy going former marine was responsible for the entire debacle they were in. No, that was untrue. Sully was merely the figurehead of the inevitable native backlash the RDA had caused. Alberon had been a military man his entire adult life and treated well by his employers but he was not a mindless drone.

Hundreds of years ago a nation sought to eradicate an entire population from the face of the earth. When questioned for their actions they defended themselves by saying they were merely following orders. Soldiers that followed orders without question and killed without compunction ceased to be warriors. They became thugs or worse. The people that came to Pandora before them forgot this lesson and they paid for it in blood.

"You have a habit of thinking when people expect you to say something Captain." Sully noted.

Alberon conceded that point. "I'm simply assessing the situation Mr. Sully."

"You can call me Jake. What's your assessment so far?"

"I was wondering what it is you want from us. It's not the equipment and supplies. You could have gotten along fine without them even if we didn't give them to you. It's not our...stellar company. There's no intel we could provide that isn't six years old. We have nothing you really want. Why did you let us land in the first place?"

"Actually, there are a few things." Sully corrected. "We want the rest of your cargo, weapons, vehicles, parts, everything. We'd also like the updated schematics you brought along. And...it would be nice if we could send a representative back with you to negotiate the terms of any future ISV arrivals."

"..."

"The stuff we got already we're keeping as uh, reparations for the damage done to our planet and people. We're willing to pay for everything else with unobtanium."

"We...will have to discuss this." Alberon said but Sully was nodding before he was done.

"Of course. We'll give you a week down here to decide. Now let's talk about what you'll be telling your bosses when you get back."

"You can't expect us to keep quiet." Nguyen blurted.

"No no," Jake shook his hand in the air. "I expect you to tell them everything. Hell, I don't even really care what you tell them except for this. I want you to make sure they know the rules.

"There's really just one major thing to remember gentlemen. This is our planet, not yours. Any unauthorized landings on Pandora will be regarded as an act of war. Mining, bringing weapons to the surface, bringing soldiers, setting up buildings, taking one speck of unobtanium will all be illegal. Word's been spread to the four winds. The RDA sets up shop a few thousand klicks away, I'll hear about it. And I won't be happy."

"What would you do?" Alberon asked quietly. "If they do decide to come back in force when they find out what happened?"

"You know what will happen." Jake replied ominously. "We know our home. We know how to hit and run. Sure you guys have the armor but I'd like to see them try to land some hulks around here."

He was referring to the same large gray tanks the grunts called hulks that Alberon had thought of when he first got a good look at the pistols a desk away. They were officially named the Heavy Landing Kilowatt Tank but it was practically a built in nickname for the fighting men.

"You know, I was there when they tried to drop them in the jungle in Venezuela. Stupidest damn thing I've ever seen. They had to spend a week clearing trees just so the hulks could get a kilometer out of the base. I'd like to see your bosses try something like that. Last time the RDA only had to deal with wildlife. Starting up again isn't going to be so easy. We're prepared for guerrilla warfare on a planetary scale, Captain. Good luck finding enough bullets."

The implication was clear. The governments of Earth had learned hard lessons in Vietnam, Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela. An invasion would be akin to those mistakes only much worse factoring in the toxic environment, mega fauna and logistics problems. From a military and business standpoint he didn't think even unobtanium would be worth the frightening cost to wage interstellar war.

"You see a lot of action?" Alberon asked more as a diversion from his own gloomy thoughts.

Sully chuckled. "I was deployed near San Cristobal during second offensive. I saw action through two of my lumbar vertebrae."

The captain nodded and he made a connection he hadn't made until his mind had been on the war. "It just occurred to me that you've seen this kind of thing before. The third offensive, I'm sure you heard about it."

The Na'vi face in front of him flashed on something terrible. "You saw the video. I tried to get them to stop. I uh...I met this guy in the hospital. Name was Billy, never got his last name. He was in for a broken leg. He, kuh!, used to tell me these stories about being a fly boy when I was laying there.

"He told me be broke his leg coming back from a run on a village suspected of housing insurgents. Dropped a two hundred and fifty kilo bomb on what they thought was the enemy's location.

"It was a school. There weren't even insurgents in the area. I don't even know what the body count was, it didn't really matter I guess. Billy shot himself about a week later. I found out he had a broken leg from jumping off a two story building. We tried to tell them Captain. Me, Norm, Max, Grace, especially Grace. No one fought harder or longer to prevent this than she did. They wouldn't listen. Maybe they'll listen to you."


	4. Chapter 4

Dr. Spellman led them through the almost labyrinthian corridors of the once fully staffed small city of a military base. They viewed empty barracks and mess halls that had been converted into makeshift gardens or cluttered workspace by the untidy researchers. It seemed with ample space to expand and no supervision that any stretch of open concrete or desk space was at risk of becoming a project area.

Despite the upheaval and list of changes implemented by Jake Sully and the Pandorans it was clear that Spellman highly regarded among humans that lived here and even the Na'vi. The sometimes awkward scientist remained the leading authority on Pandoran botany and instigated many of the projects the group had to carefully step around. Consequently this also made him likely to be the authority anywhere else in the galaxy barring unknown, earlier aliens that had already left the system. He fielded numerous questions about their research progress with a confident air that normally wasn't present in his voice. Claire had many queries for him but kept them to herself. As a former avatar driver and the sole human accepted as a full fledged member of the Omaticaya there was much she wanted to discuss.

"-and here is one of our power relays." Spellman was saying. "We can last for months on batteries alone but most of our day to day needs come from solar collectors and wind turbines."

A hand went up like in a classroom and Spellman pointed out a man Claire didn't know but recognized from boarding the ISV back on Earth. "Yeah, um, I looked at blue prints of Hell's Gate-"

"St. Augustine, Mr. Helsher." their guide corrected.

"Oh, yes, sorry, St. Augustine, um, before we deployed most of this stuff wasn't in place. Are you saying you did all of this yourselves in just a little over a year?"

Spellman smiled as if he received questions like this all the time. "To be honest, we didn't do a lot of the hard work. It was Jake's decision to eliminate the ecological impact of the base. It was our job to come up with renewable, clean options. The Omaticaya and our drivers did a lot of the heavy lifting."

"Yes but how? Where did these structures come from? You can't get solar power from leaves."

"You're right." Spellman admitted. "It wasn't easy at first. I mean, I can tell you all about Na'vi greeting customs and signal transduction but I hadn't made anything with my hands since I had to take wood shop when I was fifteen.

"We had a couple things going for us though. There were a lot of contingency plans for power failures and setting up remote bases in the databanks here. We had instructions on building these kinds of things and where we could get the base materials. A lot of our scrap came from the refinery and the stabilizing mechanisms of the Samsons. We pulled magnets and cadmium telluride panels from their engines to make the turbines and solar collectors. The main problem was finding enough flat glass for construction."

"Fascinating." the man said. "You guys have done a lot in a short time frame."

"Well, you'd be surprised what you can accomplish when you have nothing but free time." Spellman grinned.

"So what kind of footprint does the base leave now?" Claire spoke up.

"At the moment Dr. Rouga the base leaves 20% of its former imprint not including the refinery." he answered. "I"m proud to say that we'll be close to imprint-free in another year or so." Claire hadn't expected him to know their names but it seemed they had put quite a bit of time into learning about the people aboard the _Centurion_.

"You said that you took scrap metal from the refinery." Don said. "Does that mean it doesn't function anymore?"

"It does but it won't process nearly as much unobtanium as it used to. We plan to keep the anti-matter production facility online for now but in the future we'll expect ISVs to carry enough from Earth. Given enough time Jake wants the entire refinery dismantled and used for more renewable energy."

"What about Earth?" Don persisted.

"What about it?" Spellman challenged.

"Won't there be problems?"

"Problems? Yeah I guess." Spellman shrugged. "An energy crises is certainly possible. Genocides, probably not, none having to do with unobtanium anyway. Last I checked we got along a few billion years without it."

Changing floors the group passed by the medical wing where two Na'vi guards heading the opposite direction strafed the visitors. They carried modern rifles, clips and comm units but none of the traditional bow and hunting accessories Claire had been familiarized with on Earth. She wondered how many natives lived on the base permanently. The camps outside were obviously temporary settlements to her trained eye.

"What are those packs they wear?" a female in the back of the group asked.

"Ah. Those are the creation of our metal working genius Mike Dowds." Spellman said while he walked backwards. "They pretty much work the same way as exopacks only in reverse. They're not as bulky since it's main function is providing the hydrogen sulfide and correcting the carbon dioxide levels. He calls them OX packs."

"Cute." the woman said sarcastically.

They stopped in front of a large windowed room filled with beds where a Na'vi in avatar clothes stood talking to a short red head in a lab coat. Claire could tell he was not a driver from his personal jewelry and adornments plus the tell tale missing fifth digit on his hands.

"There are the base's medical experts. The tiny one is Dr. Donna Bergstrom. She's sort of commandeered this wing for herself." He waved at her through the glass and the doctor merely rolled her eyes before continuing her conversation with the masked Na'vi.

"Nice lady." Norm sighed.

"What's that bloke doing in there? They're looking at x-rays." a sharp eyed guest asked.

"He's training with us." Spellman explained. "He's a Na'vi healer that's been studying under Dr. Bergstrom. We've been learning a lot about incorporating local species into our remedies. In turn he'll bring back basics on Earth medicine to Hometree."

"Is he the only trainee?"

"At the moment."

"And he stays here instead of his Hometree?"

"Yep."

"Why isn't there a school?" the man who had asked about the turbines earlier said. "Why aren't all of the Na'vi being educated properly? If you're going to have one of them learning medicine surely you can teach more."

Spellman smiled without humor. "There's a couple reasons for that. One of them being that the RDA did that already and it didn't go so well. Plus there's kind of a cultural barrier when it comes to written language."

"What barrier? Don't some Na'vi speak English?"

"Well..." Spellman began thoughtfully and joined his hands in front of him. "It's a funny thing to translate the concept of a book or a library to people who never had something like them. Na'vi language is always spoken. All of their culture, customs, legends are passed down orally. I tried to get my friend Neytiri to learn to read once. I'll never forget what happened.

"Among the Omaticaya her English is probably the best. She was taught at that school I mentioned although her curriculum was never finished. But she lives with a native English speaker and gets daily practice. It seemed logical that she would be the first to attempt to teach.

"I remember it was raining a little when I met her on the patio of the avatar lodge. I'd brought a children's copy of Hansel and Gretel and was trying to sell her on the idea. I guess the flaw in my thinking was that the written word was superior to the verbal.

"When I gave her the book she looked it over, opened it, closed it and got up to walk out into the rain. I followed her onto the grass where she threw the book down. I thought I had made some of huge faux pas and in a way I did. She turned to me and said, 'Norm, these 'books', they are dead things. Leave them here and rain and wind make them gone. Sky people learn from books. Na'vi learn from seeing. Our books are the rain and the wind. They were here before the First Songs and still here when we are gone. How long can books be here?'"

"I looked down at the poor thing. Its ink was already beginning to run. I had to admit, she had a point."

The continued up through a couple more floors and into the clearly marked bio lab. Unlike most of the base this area was very neat and orderly. A lone man in a light blue suit worked on a series of monitors by himself on a raised dais. It took a few moments for Claire to realize she had seen him before. When undergoing briefing for the trip she had seen a picture of a much different Dr. Max Patel. He hardly resembled the man in the photograph having lost his beard and seemingly gained quite a bit of brawn.

"Welcome!" he said cheerfully. "Welcome to our link room. I'm Max."

"This is his turf." Spellman said. "Everything here is under his jurisdiction so if you want to link up you better start bringing him some donuts."

As they moved into the center of the room Claire was startled to see her avatar in its growth tank floating in a nutrient bath. It had to be fully mature by now and she could see its well toned muscle. It certainly was in better shape than she was. Next to it were both Huey and Don's avatars asleep in the same blue water. Craning her neck over to Don she saw a Cheshire cat smile on his face.

"We requested that the avatars carried on the _Centurion_ to be offloaded since the RDA wouldn't be needing them anymore." Patel came down to explain to them. "I can operate the room as well as Norm and in a pinch Jake, but I'd rather he not touch anything unless he has to. The Avatar Program may be over for the RDA but it doesn't have to be on Pandora."

Spellman cleared his throat. "We know that most of you have been waiting to come here a long time or even your whole lives. You were all hand picked by Jake, myself and Max to be given the chance to stay here permanently. There won't be any ships willing to take you home if you decide to so you'll have to be sure."

"We're allowing the _Centurion_ a week in orbit until it has to go back to Earth." Patel said. "You have a week to consider our offer. In the mean time, we'd like you to explore the base and get outside a bit. I'm sure you have a lot of questions and we'll be talking to each of you individually."

"Yeah I got a question." Don huffed. "When do we eat? I didn't come four light years for nutri-packs that taste like three day old oatmeal."

Claire had been standing next to Don most of the time they had been down on the surface. People knew by now that they were good friends. She could not stop herself from slapping her palm against her forehead in embarrassment.

* * *

The military men relaxed in former barracks recommissioned to contain strips of gardens taking up space where rows of bunks used to be. The Pandorans were growing everything from Earth tomatoes to hybrid fruits spliced with native flora. It was interesting to Alberon that even their food production was experimental.

The captain reclined in a comfortable office chair while Deskel laid out on a utility bunk and Nguyen the rack above him. "Well gentlemen." he sighed. "Our options are pretty limited aren't they?"

"I never knew you were an optimist Captain." Nguyen said mirthlessly. "We have nothing. They hold all the cards. If this were a game of go fish, we'd be down to one Jack of circles."

"There isn't a card called- oh." Deskel realized halfway through his sentence.

"I don't think Sully's going to force us to give up the hardware and specs. Doesn't go with his style." Alberon mused. "Getting some rock for all of it doesn't sound like too bad of a deal. At least we won't be going home empty handed."

"I'll have to respectfully disagree Captain." Nguyen said and sat up on the bunk. "We were supposed to have a full cargo of _refined_ rock. You know what it's like when ships get back. The ground crews are practically salivating when they start unloading. The blues and hardware we have is worth so little in terms of kilos we'd be lucky to get a few friggin' crates worth. They'd be getting parts, hardware and upgrades to boot. I'm sure their Scorpions can use some retooling."

"If they even have more Scorpions." Deskel chimed in.

"Who cares how many they have?" Nguyen snorted. "It's a moot point. They can build more, AMPs, launchers, it doesn't matter."

"If we had enough Scorpions-" Deskel started.

"You don't get it do you Brian?" Nguyen looked down. "If they're producing guns then it's already over. A couple thousand, hell, five hundred with those auto cannon pistols? Forget it. We wouldn't last ten minutes. A single round in the gas tanks or through the cockpit and a Scorpion is done for. They already beat back an invasion-class force with bows and goddamn arrows."

"Well, what if we wait for the next ISVs?" Deskel suggested. "Stay in cryo 'til the next scheduled ship comes? Even if they stopped coming six years ago that should be enough ISVs to have a decently sized landing force."

Nguyen thought about it second. "Captain?"

"Won't work." Alberon said. "Even if we did that and got a landing crew together we'd never be able to deploy. They'd see us."

"So what?" Nguyen asked. "What are they going to do? Launch rocks at us?"

"You boys weren't paying attention to that vid were you? Remember when they had an orbital scan of the Na'vi before the battle? How many satellites do you think the RDA had in orbit? Ten? Fifteen?"

"What's your point Captain?"

"If I were Sully I'd be watching the scanners for ISV signatures. He sees a few of us hanging around, not answering comms, massing our shuttles? What do you think is going to happen next? We take a satellite going almost thirty thousand kilometers an hour to the dome. The only left will be space dust. A ship even gets clipped that crew won't be going home."

"So we wait around Polyphemus." Nguyen proposed.

"And what if we miss the next ISV? What if they decide to turn around? What if they decide to side with natives? What if, what if, what if Martin. There's too many variables and none of them favor us. You tell another captain there's killer satellites out there and I guarantee he'll tuck tail."

He let that sink in with his men. Deskel looked beaten and his engineer's gears were turning but he said nothing. "It could be decades before we can realistically come back by force or even diplomatically." the captain reasoned. "Either way its not our call."

Thinking on this a moment Alberon said, "I'll sell the mining equipment to Sully. It'll be worth quite a few kilos. We won't be needing it for quite a while. Won't fill up the cargo bay but it'll be something. He can't have the hardware or the specs though. I don't want them used against the next ISV."

"That's as good as it's gonna get Captain." Nguyen exhaled. "Sully's got us by the short and curlies."

"Guess we're all retiring together." Deskel stretched out.

"It's decided then. There's just one thing left to do." Alberon nodded.

"What?"

"Hmmm?"

"See if we can find any alcohol in this burg."

* * *

Laying on a single woven cot under the stars and the ever looming mass of the gas giant Jake unwound with Neytiri after a long day. The olo'eyktan had been moving, issuing commands and doing his best to show Pandoran strength since the Valkyrie touched down. It was a welcome relief to settle down with a full stomach and a soft body on his chest.

"I think things went pretty well all in all." Jake said. Neytiri made an agreeable sound and nuzzled him gently. He was tired but his mind was still far too active to simply shut down in a timely fashion.

"Gonna talk to them tomorrow. See them up close."

"Int-terrr-view them?"

"Yeah. Good word. Just want to get a feel for each person. See if they're St. Augie material."

"Because you are not psy-chko?"

"Uh...I think you mean psy-_chic_."

"Psy-kickeh." Though she had added quite a bit to her vocabulary Neytiri still sometimes pronounced letters very hard. It must have been a trait she had picked up from her mother who pronounced words like 'called' or 'cured' almost with an extra click.

"What is psy-ko?"

"Um...like crazy. Like when a person kills people for no reason."

"Are all sky people psy-ko then?"

"Uh...no, not all of them. They just...don't think about what they're doing sometimes. They get scared and they'll do whatever someone says if they promise to make it better."

Neytiri sat up and looked into his eyes. There was only light coming from Polyphemus but his Na'vi pupils could see her very clearly.

"Is this why you could not stop that ugly man from attacking us?"

"Well, yeah that and them thinking we'd be coming to kill all of them." Staring at him a moment longer she laid back down on his chest.

"How did sky people ever come from so far away when they can't see and kill when they do not need meat?"

"I don't know." Jake sighed heavily. "Anti-matter engines?"

"Hmm?"

"Never mind. I'm just glad things are going smoothly so far. They still have plenty of ships left after this one."

"Everything will be okay, Arrow Saver." she soothed. "Eywa provides. You know this."

He did and better than most. There was no telling if he would ever be able to successfully repeat the request for miraculous intervention. Jake wasn't planning to find out either way. The Na'vi would return the favor if the time came or die trying. Even though it didn't seem to be headed that way he could not shake the tiniest feeling of dread in the back of his mind. Jake did not sleep well that night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: Apologies for formatting errors. I didn't realize FF was removing my line breaks as I was putting in much smaller ones. But alas, there seems to be no way around them. **

* * *

**^ I don't condone this.**

* * *

Two days passed entirely too quickly for Claire. The Pandorans had allowed her to link with her avatar for the first time and she had spent as much daylight as she could in her new body. It wasn't just the thrill of the new planet though the sights and sounds were intoxicating. The range and depth of her senses had received a considerable upgrade. Her eyes could pick up flitting insects meters away. The faint smell of the refinery's greasy, oily vapors occasionally made it to her clear across the base . She could almost taste the trees on the wind and the flowers hidden from sight. Being a driver was like being born again.

Don pushed her to do better as they trained on the obstacle course just outside the bio lab. It had been awkward at first but the constant motion and fit new body helped her quickly adjust to the environment. While simulators had helped prepare her there simply wasn't anything like the real thing. It was also hard to get used to having a tail most of the day and then losing it after exiting the link pod.

The other drivers were helpful and friendly to the newcomers. Dr. Patel was a constant but never overbearing presence in the link room. Not only was he a great source of information about avatars it seemed he was also the de facto overseer of the base. His natural administrative skill translated well into a leadership role and he often shared decision making with Dr. Spellman. The latter was tasked with keeping the pursuit of knowledge on track.

Both men were waiting for her when she came into the link room on the third day. Spellman broke off from Patel with a short wave and asked her to follow him. Walking quickly and unerringly through the base he brought Claire to an office cluttered with papers. Apologizing for the mess he asked her to sit with him.

"So, how is it Dr. Rouga?"

"Call me Claire, Dr. Spellman." she replied.

"Norm, likewise. You were saying?"

"Well, it's...magical. I didn't think it could be like this. I've never had so much fun spending all day in the lab before. Even if I'm only there in a physical way."

"That's the best part of working here. It's a giant classroom. We're always learning too. But..."

"But?"

"It's not always link rooms and test tubes. All of this...almost didn't happen."

"I uh, I know. We really listened the other day when you spoke." she said. "I don't think I would have just sat here if I had been on the base the same time you were. I would have helped."

"Would you?" he questioned. "That's an easy thing to say now. Harder when it could get you locked up or shot."

Claire fidgeted and thought about her answer. "I...think I understand what you're trying to say. And you're right, I don't know for sure because I wasn't there. I'm not a uh...soldier or a revolutionary or anything. But neither were you when you decided to fight for what you believed in."

Norm appeared to be trying to stare a hole through her. "I believe you." he said at last. "People around here like you. Max, the drivers, myself. You're sharp. What do you think about staying?"

"I'm not sure yet to be honest. It's a big decision. You know, I have family back home."

"Me too." Norm smiled. "You've still got a few more days to think about it. I'd set aside some time to see the wildlife up close. Put that xenobiology degree to good use."

"Well, I don't want to toot my own horn but I'm not the most unknown researcher in the field."

"Yeah? Well you better get ready to start all over. Some things have happened that'll send everyone at home back to the drawing board."

While he wouldn't explain what exactly that meant Norm brought her back to the link room. Dodging questions he excused himself and left her standing on the dais with Max.

"How'd that go?" the chipper scientist asked.

"I don't honestly know. Feel like I'm back at home in front of the RDA's review board. Like being under the microscope."

"We just want to get to know our potential bunk mates is all. Let's get you linked up."

Claire set herself down on the spongy plastic bed while Max booted up the pod. Her conversation with Norm keep running through her mind and she tried to dispel the thoughts before the congruencies began.

"I heard Jake Sully's been talking to people too." she said to change the mental subject.

"Oh yeah. He can be...over cautious when it comes to new people."

"Do you think he'll talk to me?"

"Don't worry." Max reassured. "Jake's thorough."

The pod began to power up and Claire put the sensory reader over her body. "Something I've been wondering."

"Yes?"

"I've never seen him in the link room. In fact, I've never seen him at all except in his avatar. And Tess told me your mobile unit broke down some months ago."

"Buela held out as long as she could. We're still waiting to see if she can be repaired."

"So...this is the only place someone can link up?"

"That's right."

"Am I missing something?"

Max merely smiled and close the lid for her. Mildly annoyed at people avoiding questions Claire concentrated instead on the image of a blank wall. Already her synapses were being read by the highly advanced technology embedded in the pod. The world slipped away almost too slowly to notice like a dream being chased away by consciousness. She came to on her bunk in the avatar lodge and stretched out her blue limbs. Tail flicking to be anxiously on her way she searched for her comm unit.

Finding that she was not alone Claire almost cried out loud but managed to reduce it a startled sort of gurgle. A Na'vi that was not Don or another male driver she knew sat a few beds away with his back to her. There were only a couple linked up before she went in and she didn't recognize the decorations on this one. It had to be a native.

"H-hello?" she called before remembering that she was talking to someone that likely couldn't understand English.

"I used to miss these beds." Jake Sully said. It _was_ him! But that didn't make any sense. They had to have a secret link room somewhere. "Now I can hardly fall asleep unless I'm in a vine hammock a few hundred feet in the air."

Swinging her feet onto the floor Claire watched with a little trepidation as he came over to join her. Other than the knife across his chest he was unarmed and was not wearing the ornate jewelry common for an _olo'eyktan_. Instead he had simple armbands and common beads woven into his hair. Despite his low key appearance compared to the last time she saw him Sully's presence was no less imposing. He had the powerful aura of a man in complete control of everything he set his eyes on.

"You know what I really miss about Earth though?" he asked and took a seat on the bunk across from her. "The music. Even the trash they have on the radio. My unit used to blast metal songs before an engagement. I still think about it sometimes from the back of my _ikran_."

"You don't like Na'vi music?" she asked. The surprise of his sudden appearance and daunting demeanor seemed to lessen with his casualness.

"Na'vi music comes from the heart. It's beautiful, natural, like the ones who make it. I just...haven't quite gotten used to it yet. I wonder if eventually I'll forget what Earth music sounds like."

"I grew up learning piano from my father." Claire reminisced. "I can still play some Mendelssohn but I haven't practiced in years. I don't think I'll ever forget the notes."

"Sometimes I think I'd forget my own name if there weren't people on St. Augie to say it. It's always _olo'eyktan_ this or _aw pesu zang ayswizaw_ that."

"What? One who saves arrows?"

"Oh yeah. Kind of my unofficial nickname. They call me Arrow Saver because when I taught them to shoot rifles I wanted them to think of every bullet as a single arrow. When they uh, realized how many bullets I had piled up well...that and I have a thing for making bows."

"Huh. Somehow I can't see that."

Sully smiled. "Do you think you'll stay?" he asked plainly.

"I...I'm not sure. I feel like I want to stay and head home at the same time."

"I'm sure you do. But I know you feel one more than the other."

"I guess..."

"The Na'vi say, there are many things in the forest that will catch your eye. Follow only the things that catch your heart."

"Well..." Claire thought a moment. "Something you said in your video logs. When you felt like everything was backwards and that the time in your avatar felt like the real world."

"Yeah."

"That really stuck with me. I've thought about it a lot. I'm worried that...if I stay I'll wake up and find out the dream wasn't real."

The Na'vi leader smiled. He was kind of a cute in a rugged way but she'd seen his mate and didn't particularly want any trouble in that department. "I don't think you need to worry about that. But there is something else I want to make clear to you. If you do decide to stay you need to be aware of what you're doing."

"Like never going back home?"

"More than that. It's not just calling Pandora home. It's living with the fact that one day you might be a target for your choice. That if it came down to it you could have people shooting at you."

While the possibility had occurred to Claire she hadn't quite explored that line of thinking. There had been so many other things to do than worry about a far off future that might not even happen.

"I think I need more time." she confessed.

"I think so too. We had a lot of time and second chances to make our decision. Once we did we knew there was no going back. It's the same for everyone else on this base."

"Something I wanted to ask. And...I hope this isn't too personal of a question."

"Oh? This sound juicy."

"When did you decide to help the Omaticaya? Was it when they told you they were going to burn down their Hometree?"

"No." he answered, looking distant. "It was the morning I smashed the camera on that dozer. I knew what I was doing was wrong, I knew I should have acted sooner, I knew exactly what was going to happen. So many things were my fault. The whole...operation here was a sham. A joke. They never once cared about the Na'vi or the planet for that matter. They just wanted their damn rocks. They wanted zeros in their banks accounts. I decided no more."

He moved his tongue around in thought and shifted gears. "If you want to live on Pandora, be a part of it, study it with us then you've gotta accept the responsibility. That if we need you you'll fight to protect it. We're always watching the clouds for ISVs just in case."

He stood up abruptly. "You're heart's in it but your head isn't. You'd better figure out which one to listen to."

The _olo'eyktan_ walked by her and Claire pulled up her legs to rest her chin on her knees. She had a lot to think about.

"Oh yeah." Jake said before he was completely out of the lodge. "Shuttle's going back tonight to pick up some things and a few stragglers. Might want to send a message along to that friend of yours."

She turned her head to see him looking back with a grin. "While you're here though you should probably start practicing with a bow."

The notion was so silly she couldn't help but laugh. "Well I don't have one."

"I can show you how to make one. It's easy when you get the hang of it."

* * *

Max was pouring himself a cup of coffee in one of the small half kitchens scattered around the administrative offices when Norm came in. When offered a cup the taller man shook his head. It had been a long day of answering questions and talking to potential researchers. Caffeine would only tire him out in the long run. Sitting down with Max he massaged the bridge of his nose with his thumb and middle fingers.

"You look like a million bucks." Max observed.

"Says the guy that's been sitting in the link room all day watching bio scans." Norm retorted.

"So cranky. How has it been going out there?"

"Been trying to get that engineer to stay. We could use him. It's hard to make it sound attractive with Jake giving them such a peppy speech about the long term."

"He's just giving them the raw deal. You know how he is."

Norm sighed heavily knowing exactly how Jake was. "Yeah. Can't say I blame them for not wanting to stay. Never know when the RDA's gonna show and start blowing things up."

"I'd say we have a good nine years left before that happens. Plenty of time to move if we have to."

Norm scratched his cheek unconsciously. "Wouldn't mind living at Hometree."

"I would." Max snorted. "Do you think they have adequate toilet facilities there Norm?"

The former driver laughed for the first time that day. "They don't use TP if that's what you're getting at."

"You know, I never thought to find out exactly how that works."

"It's better if you don't ask."

"Try me."

"Well, there's these three seashells-"

Max held up his hands. "Never mind, I don't really want to think about that right now."

They stared at their coffee mugs a bit in silence. "What do you think the odds are our drivers will stay?" Norm asked.

Max awkwardly tried to keep a smirk off his face as if Norm had made said something embarrassing. "What?"

"You really don't know?" Max asked incredulously.

"Know what?"

"Well I guess its more obvious to me since I'm always in the link room. Drivers, all of you, you get like...addicted I guess is the best word for it."

"I wasn't like that was I?" Norm asked defensively.

"Yeah you were. Remember when the links were down for some maintenance for twelve hours? You were pacing, restless, uneasy. I've seen it before."

"We had a lot of work to do!"

"Which you could have done in an exo." Max pointed out. "I guess it would be better. No superiors breathing down your neck, no reports to make, quarterly statements, jobs, taxes, money."

"What are you talking about?"

"Being an Omaticaya. Living at Hometree."

Norm considered what his friend was saying. Maybe there was some truth to it after all. Maybe he did miss his avatar body more than he wanted to admit.

"That's all in the past." he said wistfully. "Even if I wanted to live at Hometree I could never be a true Omaticaya without my avatar. Couldn't hunt, couldn't ride, couldn't choose a mate. I'd have to carry a couple exos everywhere. Only thing I could do would be to call up the RDA and have them send me another one."

Max dropped his head and studied the his coffee as he swirled it in his cup. "Maybe that's not the worst idea ever."

"What?"

"Maybe...just maybe mind you...we should try asking."

"Don't be crazy." Norm scoffed. "That would never work."

"Why not? They want the unobtanium, bad. They're not gonna get it unless it's on our terms. How many kilos would a brand new five billion dollar Norm Spellman avatar buy?"

"Um....two hundred and fifty unrefined."

"I wasn't – never mind, not the point. The point is that many kilos is nothing. There's tons more than that sitting in the refinery collecting dust."

"They'd never go for it. The whole idea is ludicrous." Norm balked.

"Yeah they would. Once word gets out the shipments stopped it'll create hyper demand. They'd break New London into pieces and ship it to us if it meant they could get their hands on a few more kilos."

"Damn....damn you might be right Max. But Jake-"

"Of course he'd go for it."

"I don't know...I don't want to get my hopes up."

"Okay, forget it, say they don't go for it." When Max was on a roll he couldn't be stopped. "We have a perfectly good avatar sitting in the lab right now with no one to use it."

"I can't link with that."

"You can't but Eywa can."

"I don't see what you're getting at. It has to match my genome exactly."

"For an avatar link it does. You think that matters for the ceremony they did for Jake? It existed long before they even knew what a dreamwalker was. Probably to ease a terminally ill person into an animal body or something like that. Maybe it was to honor a dying hero. Who knows? I doubt it's a matter of genomes and congruencies."

Knowing full well how absurd the conversation was Norm was nevertheless intrigued by the possibilities. To have his own avatar back or to pass completely into a blue body for good....he couldn't allow himself to get excited. It would very likely not happen or he might try only to fail to make the jump.

"What if I try and I can't do it? Get stuck like Grace did?"

Max threw up his hands. "Fine. Be that way. I was just tossing out ideas."

"I'm sorry Max, I know that. It's just a little hard to think about. I'd given up the thought a long time ago."

The other man stood and came to pat him on the shoulder as he left. "Was just an idea. Don't lose any sleep over it."

Norm stared up at the ceiling. It would be impossible for his overactive mind to avoid doing just that.

* * *

Outside the sun had nearly completed its downward journey of the day. The Pandoran sunset was manifesting in blues, yellows and reds mixing together in a rich tapestry of color. Eye stretching clouds concealed Polyphemus as a storm front gathered from the other side of the sky. Far below Neytiri sat with Mo'at braiding tough vines into rope. It was a constant necessity in their new home which gradually was beginning to resemble the old.

While they chatted in Na'vi Neytiri still enjoyed learning English from Jake. Not only was it easier to understand him but helped her speak with all of the sky people. As a point of personal pride she felt she had learned at a quicker pace than Jake did absorbing Na'vi.

"The sky people seem to friendlier this time." her mother said.

"They have no choice. The Arrow Saver has made sure sure they can offer no battle." Neytiri said pleasantly while working a tricky knot.

"Indeed he has. You must be proud."

Neytiri smiled easily. "There are many things I am proud of."

"I am glad. Xhakesuli is a fine Clan Leader. We have been wrong about him many times."

"You believed in him when all did not. Me as well." The daughter reminded. "Long has he wondered how to properly thank you. He is good with arrows but a moron with words."

"I know an easy way." Mo'at said mischievously. It was a tone that never boded well.

"Oh?" Neytiri played as if she didn't seem to notice.

"Si'kae is nearly as old as these bones. Yet she has one grand child already and another seed growing."

Stopping to gape open mouthed at her mother she couldn't believe the audacity. The tsahik was smiling to herself and continued to braid the vines as if nothing was wrong. Neytiri half convinced herself it was a joke.

"Would it be so bad to hear the sound of little feet in your living space?"

"Mother."

Mo'at stopped what she was doing to put on a face of mock concern. "Does he pay you no attention my child? Are you not beautiful enough for him?"

"Mother!"

Chortling to herself Mo'at resumed her work. Neytiri did so hesitantly but wasn't quite focusing like she should. "It....we have not spoken."

"What is there to speak of? If Xhakesuli has a thought in his thick head he should know he has a fine Omaticaya woman to lay beside. What comes next is obvious to any fool."

"I don't know, mother. It may not be the proper time to speak."

"There is never a better time for such things. Soon the sky people will return to the stars. We will return to Hometree and continue to build. The Omaticaya are strong again. There will be much time before the sky people return."

"You make it sound as if _I _am the one out of balance."

"You have not thought of this before?"

"..."

"Ssss. You have."

Mo'at sighed and set down a finished cord. "Eywa has blessed the two of you many times. It is your turn to bless her."

"Her or you?"

The tsahik merely let a tiny smile go. "Both are the same in this."

The sun was closing in on retiring for the evening. No, it would not be such a terrible thing. But how would Jake take it? Sometimes he was difficult to read not because of intentional planning on his part but simply due to lack of communication.

"A male needs a good female to balance him, push him towards the proper path." Mo'at said. "You speak with him. If he does not agree, you tell me, I will break some sense into his thick skull!"

Neytiri readily imagined that scene and decided it probably wouldn't be best for all involved. She would talk to him but perhaps it would also be a good idea to keep the reason for the sudden interest to herself. Completing a length of rope she began on another.


	6. Chapter 6

Walking through the base Claire and Don searched the areas they had access to. A few questions led them to a room being used for a mulch experiment that had once been an office. There they found the captain of the ISV and his two subordinates not surprisingly secluded from the rest of the base.

It was however a surprise to find them surrounded by empty bottles and thoroughly inebriated. They had planned on Don speaking first but it was hard to get a word in edgewise with their laughter drowning out everything else.

"E-excuse me." Claire said timidly. The men were in the middle of a good natured argument and didn't seem to notice them.

"Excuse me!" she said louder and the officers finally noticed them.

"Uh oh. I thhhhink we're dissrupting the localssss." the smaller Asian man said with a happy slur. Judging from his stature he had put away quite a bit of alcohol for someone his size.

"That just means we're doing it right Marty." the drunk captain said pleasantly. "Brian, another of Pandora's finest spirits!"

"Captain...I can smell you from here." the third and very sober man said.

"Cork it Ensign, that's a dee-rect order!" the captain laughed.

"Don't suppose you have a couple extras over there?" Don asked.

"Of course! Make it two!" The older man commanded. The sober one sighed and reached behind him to a cooler stocked with unlabeled brown bottles. Don pulled up a crate to sit with them and clinked cold glass with the jovial captain. They began to chug and Claire rubbed her forehead in frustration. It was amazing how fast even the brightest of researchers could be taken down a peg by the social drinking man.

"I'll ask you since you've still got your wits about you." Claire addressed the third man.

"I'm the designated driver ma'am." he lamented.

"If you can't fly that bird solo by now we should use your head to dig for ore!" Alberon roared.

"I'm sorry ma'am. What did you want?"

"We'd just like to get a message to a friend of ours on the _Centurion_." Claire explained while she handed over a letter with Huey's name on it.

"It'll get there ma'am." the third man promised and tucked the letter in his shirt.

"Appreciate it designated driver. C'mon Don. Don?"

The large man had unbuttoned the top of his shirt. This wasn't a good sign. "You gentlemen ever been to Thailand?" he asked.

"Okay, that's my cue." Claire said. "Have a good flight. Enjoy this story you're about to hear."

Retreating down the hall with the sound of Don's baritone chuckle added to the hyena laughter Claire was glad to be out of there. She wondered what a certain Dr. Norm Spellman was up to.

* * *

After an evening of educating a very willing Dr. Rouga on the existing theories of Pandora's possible planet wide intelligence Norm had looked forward to sleeping in. He was rudely awakened by the sound of a Valkyrie landing outside the base. It was difficult to hear that far inside the structure with its reinforced walls. Even during the busiest days there was very little by way of sound and a disruption like a landing space craft was about the only thing that could pierce a few dreams. Still the sleep deprived scientist couldn't believe he had missed his alarm.

Rolling over from his bunk Norm picked up his Pandoran watch and realized he hadn't overslept at all. The digital read out calculated in the extra seventy-seven minutes, sixteen seconds and forty-four milliseconds of Pandora's longer day. Something other than his time keeping device short circuiting was going on.

Reluctantly rousing himself Norm pulled on some clothes and slipped into his favorite pair of neon green Walking Kroks. There was less of a need to be formal with their guests as the staff at St. Augustine was getting along well with their orbital counterparts. Even the rigid ISV captain had relaxed and enjoyed almost friendly relations with the Pandorans. Norm was glad just to have dialogue and trade going instead of ultimatums and conflict.

Clopping through the base Norm ran into Arashtka, the leader of Jake's Na'vi security on the base. In addition to being one of the best riflemen among the natives he was also a beastly warrior that had once fought off a _palulukan_ single handedly. He was among the few survivors of the vicious land battle against the RDA.

The informal battle leader had two of his gun toting – and more importantly gun trained – guards with him. "Brother!" the Omaticaya warrior called. "The sky people have returned."

"I heard." Norm nodded.

"Did Jakesuli tell you of this?"

"He did not. Let us find out why they are early. Where are the others?"

"They come."

"Good."

Arashtka fidgeted a moment, something the confident Na'vi rarely did. "Brother...your...._shoe_. They hurt my eyes."

"Then look elsewhere my friend." Norm said wryly. "I like them."

The others arrived shortly thereafter and the group proceeded towards the base's main airlock. They were nearly there when Norm heard what he could swear was the steam like whistle of the airlock being operated. He looked up at Arashtka whose face was wrinkled with concern under the glass OX pack.

Turning quickly into the base's main corridor Norm came face to face with a hall of soldiers pointing rifles his way. While Norm gawked like a deer in the headlights Arashtka gripped underneath his arm and fairly threw him to safety as the hallway erupted with gunfire.

* * *

A food storage room on the ground level of the base had been doing double duty as a place to eat. Claire was groggy but happy to rise early for the chance at some extra link time. Sitting on a couple food crates her and Don choked down some protein packs while a driver named Tess told them about the RDA's departure. She was a dark haired amazon that Claire had grown to like over the last few days.

"So there was this giant line of freakin' people going out to the ISV." she continued. "I remember it was hot so I was wearing this yellow tank top and shorts. Freakin' flies biting all day. Anyway I'm watching them go by where I'm at near the back of the line. I get some dirty looks but mostly people were just glad we weren't shootin' 'em."

"Wouldn't you be if you were them?" Don asked.

"Yeah well some of them deserved it. But anyway, I'm waiting there and I see Parker freakin' Selfridge comin'. I'd been waitin' for this prick. You know he grabbed my ass once knowin' I was married? World class, that guy. So he comes along and recognizes me. He looks like he's about to say somethin' so I move up my gun like this and I'm like, 'Get on the plane, creep.' He scoots by real quick."

"Tess, you're too much." Claire chuckled.

"Hey, it's not my fault I do a mean Rambo with a meter and half long gun."

"Rambo?" Claire blinked.

"Yeah, you know, that soldier guy from the war flicks?"

"Uh..."

"Donnie, help me out here. I know you know what I'm talkin' about."

"They're old old movies from the 1960s or somewhere around there." he confirmed.

"I must have slept through that part of history class." Claire shrugged.

"I"m pretty sure every jarhead is required to watch them." Tess said. "But I meant I was lookin' pretty hard with my rifle."

"I can see that happening." Don smirked. Tess raised her hand like she was going to smack him but only grinned. Her smile faded after a few moments.

"So Claire, Donnie tells me you ain't stayin'."

Claire turned a bit red, smiling and dipping her head down. "Yeah. I've given it a lot of thought. I just...there's some things I need to get in order before I think about becoming a permanent resident."

"Alright, alright, I can respect that. But I mean where are you gonna find views like we got here?"

"Well I mean- wait did you hear that?" There was a rattling, popping sound that came from somewhere far off.

"I heard it. Came from out there." Don nodded. Leaving their meals the three of them went out into the hall. There was a kind of commotion going on and the sound repeated from around the same distance.

"Oh shit. Oh shit" Tess quivered. "That's freakin' gunfire."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Positive. Hold up, quiet, I hear someone comin'."

Heart beginning to beat like a frenzied drum Claire could just barely hear a half running person heavily stomping towards their general direction. Backing up into the store room they peeked around the door jam at what was coming at them. To Claire's dismay Norm Spellman burst into sight half leaping, half running. He was clutching a bleeding leg and wearing the most hideous shoes she'd ever seen.

"Norm!" Tess exclaimed as she ran to help him. Claire stood by the door not knowing what to do. She'd never been around guns before arriving at the base. Watching one of its leaders limping towards her with what she assumed was a bullet wound paralyzed her.

"Get in there!" Norm shouted as he and Tess approached. Don pulled her into the storeroom and made way for the slow moving pair.

"Shut the door." Tess breathed and Don complied. "What in the nine hells is going on?" Tess asked while Norm leaned heavily on her. He looked up as if he had to think about a difficult question.

"Soldiers. In the base. Shooting at us. They're sweeping. Have to hide." he said in short, halting speech as best he could while being out of breath. When none of them moved either in stupor or disbelief he added, "Now!"

Claire shook herself and looked around the room for somewhere that would conceal her. The room was stacked high with crates and recycling machinery. It was fairly large, about twenty by twenty meters, with an arching ceiling for the racks the crates rested on. Deciding to employ a technique she hadn't used since playing hide and seek decades ago Claire began to climb up onto the racks. The framework didn't lend itself to an easy ascent but she found unknown strength in fear. Getting up three racks to a respectable eight or nine meters she spread out on a group of dusty crates. From the ground it would be difficult to tell she was there.

Below her Tess and Norm climbed into a waste compactor and Don chose a crate of dried meat to bury himself in. Watching them from above until they were all completely hidden Claire shrunk away from the edge of the crates and curled into a ball as tight as she could. There was nothing she could do but listen to the sounds coming in from outside. Gunfire was sporadic and always sounded closer but soon the base was quiet again. Waiting for what felt like an eternity Claire was considering coming down when she thought she heard steps. The door mere meters away slammed open seconds later and boots quickly entered the room.

Terror seized her body making Claire shut her eyes like a child scared of the dark. Hardly daring to breath she cringed as the men searched the room. She silently prayed that there was no angle from the ground that would give her away.

"Clear." a gruff voice said. When she heard someone removing the lid of a crate she clenched her teeth thinking they had found Don.

"Rations." the same voice commented. "Mark it down. Let's go."

The boots departed as hastily as they had come and the door was shut behind them. She heard another door farther down the hall being slammed open the way theirs had been and Claire hoped there was no one in whatever room they had just entered. The soldiers were gone for the moment but she felt heaving breaths well up in her chest and tears leak through her closed eyes. It was at least half an hour before she could work up the nerve to open them and look down from her hiding spot.

* * *

The hunting party had taken them deep into the forest. Nearly the entire clan had come to St. Augustine to both greet and keep an eye on the visiting humans. Though they had gathered many provisions beforehand there was a constant need to replenish them. It was also a good opportunity to procure raw materials for Hometree in an area virtually untouched by humanoids.

The clan's _ikran makto_ kept track of a roaming herd of _yarik_ hundreds of animals in number. Moving an increasing distance from the camps at St. Augustine the herd kept the Omaticaya on their toes. While Jake could easily hunt from the back of his _ikran_ he enjoyed going out on the ground with his people during the forays into the wilderness. It helped keep his tracking skills sharp though even a child could follow the trampled ground left by the herd.

Neytiri hardly left his side since the ISV had arrived but there was nothing unusual about that. There was something different in the way she had been acting since a couple of days ago. Jake couldn't quite put his finger on it but his instincts told him he had either done something wrong or failed to do something altogether. She would study him intensely doing routine actions and then pretend like she hadn't been watching.

It had been a fruitful morning and many hunters pulled their kills along the forest floor in _telem'hua_. They were hand woven sleds the Na'vi used to transport heavy objects, meat or even other people great distances. Jake had learned to make them in order to bring a number of rough hewn bows a long way from their creation site back to Hometree.

In no hurry to return to St. Augustine Jake kept a moderate pace while he chatted and towed his _yerik_ along. Neytiri kept up alongside dutifully carrying his war bow. She could use it if she wanted to but the bow was made with kinetic energy in mind. Jake himself would tire after a handful of shots but those arrows would easily generate enough force to smash through the cockpit of a Scorpion or AMP suit.

They had been traveling some time before the reaching the outskirts of the Omaticayan camp. Instead of the first Na'vi they came across loudly greeting the successful hunters the rest of the clan whispered in hushed tones at their approach. Friendly conversation hung in the air for a moment before dropping to the ground. To forgo a major social interaction like that meant something was afoot that couldn't have been positive. That gnawing, inexplicable feeling of dread that had been nagging Jake in the back of his mind threatened to bloom into full blown panic.

Working his way through the trees the Na'vi hero caught a glimpse of a Valkyrie simply existing near the base. He had planned on being back long before the shuttle arrived to supervise the unloading of the cargo. Peering through the branches overhead Jake checked the sun and confirmed he still should have had plenty of time. He didn't want to think about what that meant but he could imagine nothing else.

They drudged through the outskirts of the camp where no Na'vi dared look Jake in the eye. Mo'at would be waiting at the center just as she would at Hometree. When he spotted her through the crowd her serious visage almost made him stop in his tracks. He'd seen that unflinching expression before when they both stood over a dying Tsu'tey. All of his unknown fears had been right. Something had gone terribly wrong.

When the rest of the clan noticed him coming they parted to allow the _olo'eyktan_ through. Freezing mid step he saw two prone figures lying nearby a gathering of warriors and the tsahik. Jake's finest warrior and second in command Arashtka stood with her. Sitting on the ground in front of them near the two horizontal figures were the rest of the guard unit who should have been on duty at the base.

Jake realized he was still pulling his kill along and unburdening himself. Stumbling down the slight incline to where they waited he noticed downcast eyes and tight lipped faces. Only Mo'at was bold enough to meet the _olo'eyktan_'s gaze as he came near. She did not speak but nodded at him as he passed by to the ones laying on their backs.

Falling to his knees near their heads Jake could hardly breathe. They had been shot many times in the torso by standard Spec Ops rounds as far as the former marine could tell. He put a trembling hand on their foreheads and their skin was already as cold as morning dew.

"Bihaat...Kuu'chyxg..." he trailed off. He knew these warriors. He hunted with them, laughed with them, ate with them, trained them. They were his brothers. Just a day ago they were alive and well. Until this moment Jake had never regret taking on the mantle of leadership despite his misgivings. He had failed to protect his own kin and again violated the trust placed in him by the Omaticaya.

A hand rested on his shoulder and Jake pushed himself to his feet. Neytiri hugged him and softy said a prayer for the vanquished. Jake's thoughts whirled in a maelstrom of questions tempered by a thick, choking anger. At some point the humans had done what he should have known they were going to do. It was little comfort now that he had a bad feeling from the start. He had chosen to discount it when he should have been thinking of every scenario.

Facing him but not looking directly forward Arashtka cleared his throat. "Clan leader." he addressed. "I see you."

Jake barely registered it enough to nod. "How?" he asked.

"The sky people came much sooner than we thought. We did not know if you allowed them this. Many came armed with _guns_. They wore _uniform_. They scattered our warriors on the _airfield_. We....I gathered our warriors and we fought inside the _base_. They _flanked_ us and we lost our position. I ordered the others to make _cover fire_ and gather our dead. We fell back." Jake was listening but his mind seethed with rage. Releasing him Neytiri attached herself to his arm and watched his face.

"I am sorry!" Arashtka blurted. "It was my fault, clan leader. I should not have let them best us. These people are my responsibility. I will accept your punishment for my errors."

Getting on his knees Arashtka bowed almost to the ground in front of Jake. The _olo'eyktan_ hadn't even thought of penalizing anyone for failing to fight off who knows how many grunts. While he could exile or even execute clan members for endangering their brethren there would be none of it today. Jake didn't care if it was customary or proper to at least issue a token reprimand like he was supposed to. At the moment he just didn't give a damn about traditions.

"Rise, warrior." he heard himself say. Arashtka returned reluctantly to his feet and Jake placed an open palm on his chest. "You have done no wrong my friend. You did exactly what I taught you to do."

"All of you." Jake turned to say to the others. "You fought bravely. You honor our brothers by giving them back to the People. We will grieve for them later. Now, we avenge them. Arashtka, son of Unte'paoli, gather our warriors. Build us _barricades_ on each side of the _base_. They must not be allowed to escape."

"At once, clan leader." his adjutant bowed and began directing the Omaticaya to their tasks. Jake put his free hand over his face and tried to think straight.

"Xakesuli." Mo'at said in front of him and he dropped his hand to regard her.

"Yes, mother of my wife."

"There is more. A wild ikran was shot from the sky before you arrived."

"Over the _base_?"

"Yes."

"They turned the AA batteries on..." Jake said in English. "Son of a bitch."

"What do I do?" he asked in Na'vi knowing full well the answer.

"It is your duty to restore balance Xakesuli. You know the ways of the sky people. Send them away once more. Make sure the People suffer no more sorrows."

"Sorrows." Jake echoed. "I will give them a host of sorrows."

Neytiri tugged on his arm. "This was not your fault Jake. Anger will only weaken your mind. You will see through it, understand?"

Mo'at nodded in agreement. He tried to show them he did in fact comprehend their words but he made no promises. There would be blood before the sun went down.


	7. Chapter 7

Piling and bundling wood the Omaticaya had erected barricades on three sides of the occupied Hab Complex. To the north the thick jungle prevented an orderly escape and Jake had placed sentries with comm units in the trees. If anyone made it out of the building or a group of soldiers decided to try their luck running for the Armory they would be spotted. Many warriors waited just past the barricades out of bullet range. They were ready to fight, ready to die.

Every Na'vi capable of handling a rifle had one in their hands and was keeping it aimed at the base. Jake's personal guard led by Arashtka escorted him to the two meter high fortification directly in front of the main entrance. While few Na'vi outside these warriors were skilled marksman many had picked up the basics of modern weaponry from them. A number of unskilled shooters concentrating inaccurate fire would still be quite lethal against a large group.

Ducking behind the hastily constructed rampart Jake peered over the top at the skyline. There was movement on the roof but he couldn't get a good count. On his _ikran_ somewhere in the forest he carried a powerful magnifying lens in the saddle. At the moment he didn't want anything flying even near the base. The vicious anti aircraft installations were capable of annihilating great swarms of _ikran_ and would probably shoot down a_ toruk_.

The windows of the base were open by way of the protective shutters designed to lock the base down and shut out harmful radiation. They could be rapidly closed if the need arose; Jake regret consolidating the bases' control center on the ground floor instead of the repairing the ruined Ops Center. The men inside would have an easy time entrenching themselves ironically using the very equipment Jake and Norm had set up to keep the base safe from an attack.

Though he had some time to think it over the circumstances still didn't make any sense. They had accorded the visitors every courtesy they could, treated them with respect and achieved cooperation among them. Alberon had seemed like a man of his word and Jake was astounded that he had been double crossed. He thought himself a good judge of character if nothing else but it seemed he had been a fool. Worse he could think of no good reason for such a rash move. Every scenario he came up with from their viewpoint ended badly for the hostiles. If he had only come back earlier...

"What do we do?" Arashtka cut into his thoughts.

"I know not yet." Jake answered. "They watch us from up high. We must be careful."

"Why do we not destroy them? Surely they can not resist us all?"

"This place was made to resist, warrior. We can destroy them if we trade many lives. I will not allow this. Also, our brothers may yet live. We must think of them."

* * *

"I don't think they're getting the message. Go ahead and let the minnow back in the water." the command came in over the comm link.

"Yes sir!" the corporal eagerly replied. "Get up." he ordered.

Roughly dragging their prisoner along the corporal pushed him into the airlock. "Get a good breath, bitch. You're gonna need it." he snarled and slammed the airlock shot.

"Yo...what are you doing?"

"That pissant sucker punched me topside. He can do a little track and field if he expects to live."

"Yeah but-"

"But nothin'." the corporal snapped and pounded his hand on the release button. The airlock decompressed and deadly atmosphere flooded into the chamber. Their prisoner rammed his shoulder into the door and brushed past it out onto the airfield.

"Fine, you can explain it to the major if his ass doesn't make it."

* * *

The fleeing man caught Jake's eye almost immediately. He was wearing a light button up shirt that made him easy to see against the oppressive slate color of the base. It took a moment for Jake to catch on that he was not running at them but towards the still open Valkyrie craft. Arashtka edged towards the end of the barricade but the _olo'eykta_n held up two fingers.

"Hold." he commanded and pulled out one of his 30mm revolvers. Keeping himself out of range from the guns on top of the base he jogged to the shuttle and easily cut off the running man. Backing up the ramp to give himself a little cover Jake took aim at the increasingly large target. As the man drew closer Jake realized the his hands were behind his back and his exopack was missing. Holstering the gun he ran out to meet the human.

Jake recognized the pilot Brian Deskel just before the purple faced man was forced to take a break of toxic Pandoran air. Faltering mid step he was tripped up by his own momentum. Falling hard to the tarmac Jake knew this would be no clever trick. Coming to a hasty stop Jake scooped up the shaking body and pushed off his foot towards the opposite direction. Galloping into the cargo bay he lay the pilot down on the deck and threw open the closest emergency exopack station. Finding it empty he zig zagged to the other two stations only to find them just as unhelpful.

Coming to the stairs that led to the cockpit Jake covered half of them with one leg and pushed open the tiny human door. It was a tight fit for his Na'vi body but he managed to wedge himself into the cockpit. There was a final box slightly ajar that didn't look promising but he squirmed around to get a hand on it anyway. Swinging it open he revealed a single emergency pack left.

Snatching it from the wall Jake pulled in his arms and wrenched himself out of the door's threshold. Bounding over to the twitching pilot he applied the mask and twisted the life giving flow of filtered oxygen on. He let Deskel cough his way back to the land of the living while he scanned the building for signs of activity.

"Someone's watching out for you pal." he said when the bleary eyed man began to breathe normally. Rolling him over to the side Jake saw the zip ties binding his hands together. Slipping his knife off his chest Jake snaked it through the weak plastic and freed the man. Replacing the knife Jake hunched over the dazed pilot. Besides the near death experience he looked like he had been roughed up a bit. There was a cut above his eyebrow and dried blood at the corner of his mouth. The marks weren't fresh but they couldn't have been more than a day old.

"You alright?" he asked.

Deskel nodded and tried to get up but Jake rested his hand on his chest. "Easy, get a couple minutes worth of air in you before you start walking around. Trust me."

Nodding again the pilot lay back down and shut his eyes. Jake was anxious to learn what had happened but it would do no good to rush. "When you're ready, I need to know what's going on."

"Mutiny." he spat.

"Mutiny?"

"Bastards."

"Where's Alberon?" Jake pressed.

"Inside. On a stretcher. I think he's in a coma."

"Huh. How'd that happen?"

"They hit him in the back of the head with a rifle."

"Okay soldier let's back up. What happened when you went to get the parts like you said you were going to?"

Deskel breathed out heavily. "I never thought it would happen like this."

"Hey, c'mon, focus here. What happened?"

The pilot looked away and hesitantly continued. "The captain gathered everyone again and told them the situation. He ordered pretty much the full roster back into cryo. Well this guy, Major Hamlin, he'd been spending the last couple of days working the grunts up. They started talking about heading down in force. Captain wasn't having it."

"What did they do?"

"They were _armed_. There was nothing we could do."

"Armed? How?" Jake blinked.

"Cargo holds had been broken into. They got all the emergency landing hardware from both Valkyries. Not enough to put up a long fight but enough to get into the base. "

"You gotta be kidding me. They were stupid enough to point guns at people on a goddamn ISV?"

"Yeah. Hamlin said he was relieving the captain of his command. That was the wrong thing to do, man. The captain let him have it. This rat bastard corporal just suddenly hits him with his gun. I clocked him as hard as I could."

"How'd they get down here?"

"I uh....I flew them." he admitted.

"What? Why?"

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. The...the captain was in bad shape. They promised no one else would get hurt and that they'd fix him up if I brought him down to the med wing."

"Two of my friends are dead because of you." Jake said and was unable to keep the anger from his voice.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry....I didn't want....I was scared. I thought they were going to start shooting in the ISV. One bullet hole in the hab module would probably kill everyone on board. I didn't want to believe me. I had to get them off the ship."

"And down on my base." Jake added. He wanted to be angry with the pilot but he couldn't bring himself to. He might have enabled the soldiers to make it to the surface but Deskel himself wasn't responsible for the deaths.

"I'll do whatever you want. You can put me on trial." the pilot said bravely.

"Shit man...I can't be pissed at you. I'm not happy either but you weren't trying to get anyone hurt. How many did you bring?"

"Sixty two. I counted. Maybe six or seven topside."

"They left a few behind?"

"Back up."

"If I recall there was a roster of eighty or so military on board."

"Not everyone was in on it. The crew was with the captain and so were a few of the grunts. Most were forced into cryo."

Jake thought a moment about the men and what they would be up to. "You were inside. Did you see where they're holed up?"

"Ground floor. They set up their own perimeter. It's gonna be hard to get through."

"Let me worry about that. Did you see any of the base personnel? Dr. Spellman? Dr. Patel?"

"Patel...that the Saudi guy with glasses?"

"He's Indian, but yes."

"I saw him with the other hostages."

Jake took in a calming breath that had little effect as the pilot continued. "Hamlin wants to negotiate. He said to wait for a call from him at the soutth watch tower. He'll be trying the monitors there in the next thirty minutes."

"Tch! Negotiate huh? We'll see about that."

"He said if you try to get into the base he'll uh....he'll take the hostages and uh..."

"I get it." Jake ended off for him.

"What are you going to do?"

"Hope your boy Hamlin isn't dumb enough to actually do what he's threating. If they think they can kill of my friends and move in they have another thing coming. There's a little fact about the base I haven't mentioned to any of you visitors."

"What?"

"The whole thing's wired to blow. There's enough kilos of explosives buried around here to send this whole place into orbit. I really hope I don't have to make that call."

* * *

It had been almost an hour of continuous silence from the outside before Claire heard movement from below. Looking down she saw Tess crawling out of the recycling compactor. She was comically covered in muck and food bits which contrasted greatly to her serious face.

"Guys!" she whispered. "Stay put, I'll be back."

"They'll shoot you!" Claire whispered back as loud as her courage let her.

A crate rumbled softly and Don peeked out from under the lid like a timid gopher emerging from a hole. "Stay here, we're safe." he hissed.

"We gotta get out of here." Tess argued. "They'll find us eventually. Just stay put."

"Don't go!" Claire whispered but it was too late. Cracking open the door just enough to slip through the taller woman disappeared from sight. Waiting for the inevitable gunfire to break out Claire couldn't stop images of Tess being shot from invading her mind. Light steps returning minutes later was a minor relief of the stressful situation they found themselves in.

"Coast is clear for now." Tess was confident enough to say in a normal speaking voice. "Come out, we need to get moving."

Stiff joints and cramped muscles protested as Claire awkwardly slid down from crates as carefully as she could. By the time she made it to solid ground Norm was already being assisted out of the recycling machine by Tess. Dusting meat chunks off himself Don joined them with Claire last to catch up.

"How you feelin' buddy?" Tess asked Norm when they freed him from the dark, repugnant space.

"I feel like someone shot me in the leg and then I jumped into a dumpster." He had removed his flannel shirt in the compactor and tied it around his wound. It wasn't a perfect solution she knew just from basic first aid but it would have to do.

"We need to get you somewhere you can lie down again." Tess nodded. "Keep pressure on it, you'll make it. Alright kids, bad news first. The closest exit is booby trapped with friggin' mines or some shit. They set up sandbag checkpoints towards the center of the base so we're kinda trapped."

"I hope there's good news along with this." Don said.

"There is. I think I know how we can get out of the base without being spotted or blown up."

"Well that's good." Claire encouraged.

"Next to us is the waste processing room."

"Oh....really Tess? Are you _trying_ to get my leg infected?" Norm complained.

"You shut your mouth Norm. I'm tryin' to save your life ya ungrateful bastard."

"What are you two talking about?"

"I think we can get into the waste tubes and flush ourselves out into the river." Tess explained. "So to speak."

"Uh..."

"...gross." Claire grumbled.

"Anyone that doesn't like it can go turn themselves in or try being their own bomb squad. Me, I'm gettin' Norm outta here pronto."

"Don't be pissy Tess, what do we do?" Don asked.

"We need some exos. Then we just hop in. I think." she said.

"You keep saying 'I think' a lot." Claire observed.

"Wait Tess, won't that put us directly into the water?" Norm brought up.

"Well yeah, but that should be no problem right? Its just water."

"And how exactly do we...flush ourselves out?"

"We just need to jump into the tubes and when there's enough weight it automatically dumps out."

"Okay so what if we all get in with the garbage and we don't weigh enough to trigger the chute?"

"Um...we get back out?" she offered. "If you guys have any other ideas..."

"Let's do it." Norm said unenthusiastically. "We gotta tell Jake about the doors. If they're all rigged like that a lot of people are going to die trying to get in. Knowing him he'll go in guns blazing."

"Come on then. Stay behind me, go as quiet as you can. Don, help Norm, keep his weight off that leg if you can."

Gathering by the door their leader looked both ways before waving them on. Claire kept close to her and made as little sound as possible. They only had to go a dozen meters or so but it felt like a dozen kilometers out in the open hall. Slowly and silently twisting one of the double doors open Tess stood fearlessly at point while they hurried past her. They ushered themselves into the processing room and were hit by the odor first. It was roughly twice the size of the store room and filled with brass machinery. Steaming tubes and pipes disrupted the orderly rows along with random bits of garbage laying around.

To their left the machinery ended in an open space. Set into the floor there were three black, circular lids about two meters wide with handles on each end. They were easy to spot against the concrete floor and easier to smell even from where they stood. Judging how her day was going Claire guessed that those were the very tubes they'd be throwing themselves into soon.

Locking the door Tess quickly vanished behind the pipes. Not knowing what else to do Claire wandered over to the lids and the two men followed. Returning with a handful of hazmat style exopacks Tess wasn't pleased. She only had three to hand out.

"Rotten goddamn luck." she cursed.

"That's three more than I was expecting." Norm cracked unwisely as Tess glared at him.

"I"m glad you're feelin' better smart guy. Whose really good at holdin' their breath?"

"I'll do it." Don volunteered. "Norm needs one for sure and you two will need air to fight the current."

"I don't know whether you're being gallant or chauvinistic Don." Claire said as she pulled on her mask.

"It's fine line I walk." he said and bent down to pull off one of the sewage lids. Immediately the garbage smell struck them with redoubled effort. Claire twisted the exopack's valve hoping the filter would do something about the stench but it did little for her nose. Under the lid was a sloping tunnel that led to a cylindrical chute deep enough that she couldn't see into it. Easing himself to a sitting position just at the edge of the opening Norm took a deep breath hopefully out of his mouth.

"No throwin' up in your pack." Tess said and pushed him unceremoniously down the ramp. Rapidly accelerating into the dark he landed a few seconds later with a squish some meters down where he couldn't be seen.

"Ow! Dammit!"

"Norm, you okay buddy?" Tess called.

"Oh, this is so nasty." his voice came up. Tess smiled as she said, "Out of the way pal, I'm comin'." She skidded into the gloom a few seconds later.

In no particular hurry Claire lowered herself to the foul smelling edge and pushed off before she could change her mind. Gliding across a layer of something she didn't want to think about she landed in a pulpy mass that seemed to seal itself around her. Her short drop slowed to a halt after she had plunged to her shins into the chilly muck. She had yet to experience anywhere quite as disgusting as where she was now. Light wasn't making it very far down but she could see Tess and Norm leaning up against the chute's wall. It was probably for the best that they couldn't get a good look at what exactly they were in.

"Hey guys." Tess said while making a face that Claire could just barely see from the rough outlines of her features. "Do either of you know if these things work underwater?"

"I...assumed you knew they did before you came up with this plan." Norm said uneasily.

"Well..."

"You're kidding right?"

"I'm sure we have a minute before-"

Don's bulk blocked out the available light and the questionable firmness under Claire's feet disappeared altogether. Plunged into slimy darkness she hit against something hard and unforgiving before ice cold water pulled her down into itself.


	8. Chapter 8

Sucked down into the powerful river current Claire Rouga could not see anything but brief flashes of light. She made the mistake of trying to take a breath and was rewarded with a mouthful of foul tasting liquid. Scrambling to find some sort of sense in the rushing water light burst around her and she was staring at the rocky bottom of the river going by. Lungs searing from being under too long Claire kicked and fought her way up to the wide riverbank.

Clutching at the brown and black flecked sand at water's end she waited until her pack was out of the river before trying to breathe again. Water still came through but so did sweet air and she coughed while trying to get in a few breaths. Her exopack fogged up from her swelling lungs and the introduction of more water than it was used to filtering. She had to loosen it and hold her breath to allow the renegade water to escape from the bottom.

Securing the mask she panted in the dirt and looked over her shoulder for the others. Tess was sputtering on the other side of the river but there was no sign of the men. To her left the high walls of the base rose around the flowing water. Around them every other direction the foliage was thick and trees tall. They had to be at the north end of the base by the avatar training course. Claire had been in the area before but not this spot in specific. If the men were further down stream she would not have an easy time finding them.

Energy returning she ignored the foul taste in her mouth and picked herself. Scanning the wilderness for any signs of life she found none. The bank meandered right and down a slope which Claire jogged along. To her relief she found Norm pulling a dazed Don on to a flatter section of mud. Rushing over she took a good breath and placed her mask over the larger man's face. His chest rose up and Don spit up some water before wheezing back to coherence. Norm lay face down in the muck taking ragged breaths and wincing in pain.

Claire waited patiently for them to recover and Don sat up still looking dizzy. "Guys..." he huffed, "I know this may be old news to you but I think I might be out of shape."

Resisting the urge to giggle Claire motioned for the mask back. Taking in a lungful of air she let herself chuckle and said, "Well, good news, packs still work. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to try to use one underwater but after they're cleaned out they seem to work fine."

Handing the mask back to Don she helped Norm get the rest of the way on solid ground into the soft grass. A dirty and dripping Tess joined them and appraised the success of her plan. "Everyone's in one piece, we're outside, no one's friggin' shootin' at us, mission accomplished. Don't thank me all at once people."

"We're not out of the woods yet." Norm said.

"That supposed to be funny Norm?" Tess asked. "We gotta get further into the trees away from here."

"I need to get a message to Jake before he makes a move. Get me to the bio lab. It should be just around the corner."

"Good thinkin' Norm, then we can get our avatars and do some damage."

"Absolutely not." he rejected. "You're going to get to safety and leave the avatars where they are. As soon as I'm inside you're all to get to the forest."

"But-"

"No arguing Tess, that's an order. If they find out someone's in the lab they're come shooting. I'm the only one that needs to be there."

"And if Jake needs our help we'll already be inside." Tess asserted and handed her pack over to Claire.

"The answer is no Tess. If I could get there fast and scout the area myself you would already be on your way north. Help me up Don."

Scowling the fiery woman nevertheless kept her opinions to herself. With Don supporting Norm they headed as quickly as possible back the way they had been violently expelled. Trading her exo with Tess every few breaths they kept their eyes open for enemies. Coming up to the outer walls of the base they crept east towards the training area. The procession halted just before the corner into the open area.

"They're probably going to be watching for intruders." Tess reasoned. "The smaller airlock is about ten meters from here. We gotta be quick and avoid cameras. Claire's with me, you boys stay here. Give us your pack Don."

Stepping to the corner Tess crouched and readied herself for a sprint. Tugging on the mask Claire lined up behind her to do the same. She was wet, dirty, frightened and just wanted everything to be over. Why did the other humans have to cause trouble?

At some invisible signal Tess bolted and Claire lunged after her. Keeping as close to the base as they could they dashed along the wall that ended abruptly in a threshold with about a foot overhang before the airlock door. Tess opened it gingerly despite their haste just enough to get inside. Ready to slip in Tess stopped short for some reason. Half her body was already in while Claire was out in the open and she nearly pushed the other woman out of the way to get to safety.

"There's a bomb. Don't open the door any more than it is right goddamn now. Come in quick." Tess whispered. Going the rest of the way inside Tess held the door while Claire stood stupidly staring at her.

"I'm serious girl, hurry!" Tess urged. Claire moved and flattened herself as thin as she could to slide past the door as if it were the bomb itself. Both inside the small airlock Tess shut the door carefully and Claire saw exactly what she was up against. A thin length of rope had been tied to two bunches of charges taped together and set on either ends of the airlock. The rope was stretched across the door's inwardly swinging path and fastened to pins on each explosive cluster. Had they charged in and opened the door another handful of centimeters the door would have bent the rope enough to pull out the pins and detonate the charges.

They stared at the trap for a few moments without speaking. Tess eventually cleared her throat and said, "I think I just wet myself a little."

"Um, what do we do?"

"We'll never fit Don and Norm through here. We'll have to uh...do somethin' about this." Tess said which was exactly what Claire was hoping she wouldn't say.

"You any good with knots Claire?" Tess asked looking nervous for the first time since they had met.

"I was in the Girl Scouts when I was twelve."

"Good enough. I'll hold one end of the rope here so you don't pull it too much."

"Scouts was a long time ago Tess."

"C'mon Claire, think of the others. A lot of people have probably been shot. If the Na'vi come stormin' in they're gonna get blown up real good. We gotta do this for them."

Claire had been so wrapped up in her own plight she had honestly forgotten all about the other people on the base. There was no telling if they were even alive at this point. She never wanted to be caught in the middle a battle but she was. As much as she wanted to run away she knew she would hate herself later on for even thinking about it.

Steeling her nerves and bracing herself for being blown to smithereens Claire sat herself down by the innocuous bomb. Trying to push the thought of the small airlock exploding out of her mind she concentrated on the knot looped around the ring. There wasn't much slack to work with but luckily it was a hastily rigged operation and someone didn't have time to get fancy with the rope work.

"I can do this. If it were a lighterman's hitch we'd be in trouble but this shouldn't be too hard."

"What?"

"Never mind, I'm about to start. Hold it tight."

"You got it."

"And Tess, if we die, my ghost is so coming for your ghost."

Flashing a far too fierce grin Tess nodded and Claire got to work. She was lucky to have small, soft fingers from a lifetime of avoiding manual labor and a knack for puzzles. Not that she had ever been tested under penalty of death before now.

In order to take the knot off she had to pull on the taut string ever so slightly to give herself some slack. Beginning to tug she hoped Tess was holding tight enough to the other side. She had to work the loose bit of rope up and out of the knot. Sweat beaded on her neck as she continued pulling ever so slightly. She almost cried out in joy when it finally slipped through and she could unwind the first loop. Threading the rope back through the pin she gradually released the pressure and let it go slack in her hands.

"You did it!" Tess congratulated. Claire sat back on the airlock floor and took a few shuddering breaths. She watched distantly while Tess gathered up the rope and stuffed it on the other side of the airlock.

"You did good kid." Tess said patting her on the back.

"Aren't I a year older than you?" Claire murmured.

"Details. I'll go get the others, sit tight."

Closing the door behind her Claire wasn't concerned about what was going on behind her. It was amazing how Tess managed to keep making forward progress while Claire could only stare the bomb. A slip and they could have been worm food. A few seconds later the others burst into the airlock and shut it behind them. Tess engaged the filtration function and in moments they were able to remove their packs.

"Took your time." Don grumbled. "We thought you'd been captured."

"Sorry about that big boy. Next time we'll try to disarm a freakin' bomb faster for you."

"Bomb!" Don and Norm said simultaneously.

"Check it out. Both of those."

"Holy shit."

"Whoa..."

"Yeah. That's what I said."

"Let's go." Claire said and made for the lab. There were no soldiers waiting for them at the other side like she expected but she would proceed as if there were. Creeping in she stayed low and stopped behind pods to work her way closer to the entrance. Checking behind her she saw the others imitating her sneaking style. Claire made it to the desk just before the open threshold to rest of the base.

Keeping her ears open she made no sound as she braced against the wall and looked out into the hallway. No one was waiting either direction and she would have let out a breath if she wasn't trying so hard to stay quiet. Backing away from the door she gave a thumbs-up to the others.

Norm said something to Don and the big man set him down by the empty nutrient tanks. Tess inspected the desks while Don retrieved a single panel touchscreen from the dais. Claire looked around for some sort of medical kit but there only seemed to be instruments and computers in the room. Returning with Don over to Norm she knelt down to inspect his leg. The small puddle collecting around him from his wet clothes was tinted pink from his imperfect bandage. He must have been bleeding since the wound was made.

"How's your leg?" she whispered.

"Fine, it's been dragged through a garbage dump and plunged into a river full of microorganisms." he said while tapping the screen and logging into the base's system. His fingers moved like a frantic pianist pounding out an erratic sonata. Screens open and closed in seconds and Claire wasn't sure if he was even reading them.

"They're using Max's log in. If I override them they'll know we're here." He worked on as if they weren't there. " You guys should get going now."

Matching eyes with Don Claire didn't have to confirm his sentiment. "No one is going anywhere Norm."

"That isn't a request." Norm said in an annoyed tone but did not take his eyes off the screen in his lap. "I'm in charge of the base and I'm ordering you to leave."

"Then were disobeying." she shrugged.

"Idiots." He grunted while pulling up a list of long numbers and letters.

"What's that?"

"The registered call signs of all aircraft on the base. Jake's Scorpion should be one of them."

"You don't know which one it is?"

"Nope."

"How are you going to find him then?"

"Ever flip through a phone registry and start calling everyone on the list?"

* * *

In the central tower Jake paced back and forth in front of a large screen. He was expecting a call from the man in charge of the hostage situation and the _olo'eyktan_ struggled to restrain his fury. Behind the cameras Neytiri and Arashtka waited with him. Exactly on a time the call came in and Jake practically leap over to answer it. The screen lit up with that image of a mid-thirties, crew cut man with a slight double chin. His beady eyes looked out with the smug satisfaction that already got on Jake's nerves. He detested the man before he even spoke.

"Jake Sally I presume?" he said.

"Hamlin." Jake growled.

"Major Hamlin, if you don't mind. I see we're in a bit of a situation here. Luckily I'm a reasonable man."

"Cut the shit Hamlin. You're no position to bargain. Surrender now and I'll promise only minor injuries to you and your men before you go back to the _Centurion_."

"Nah. I think we'll stay. We like it here. So let's talk about our demands."

"You're out numbered, cut off and will run out of supplies long before we do. You're digging your own graves." Jake threatened.

"I don't think so. See, we heard a lot about your operation here. We know that the base is self sufficient. You brought enough supplies and nutri packs to keep us going. So it's a civil about this."

Jake barely contained his rage as the rattlesnake smooth major continued. "Here are our terms. Take your savages off RDA property. Keep your distance. If you play along we'll release a hostage every month, starting with the injured ones first. And by the way, your blue base monkey had better be a top pick. He managed to kill one of my men before we taught him some manners. I don't know if I can keep him alive very long."

Jake's blood boiled and his ears went flat back but he kept a level voice. "You think I'm stupid? The next ISV would arrive by then. You're out of your mind if you think that we'll let you wait for reinforcements."

"You don't have much of a choice Sully." Hamlin sneered. "You have twenty four hours to get five clicks from here or every time we see a loincloth we shoot one of your pals. Get it?"

Jake gripped the sides of the monitor and ripped it out of the table so he could bring it up to his face. "The only thing keeping me from dropping a building on your ass is them! You touch one hair on their heads and I"ll turn that god damn complex into a parking lot! You hear me little man!"

He slammed the monitor down on the table and it shattered into a thousand pieces. "Be ready in twenty minutes Arashtka!" he ordered. Storming out of the room Jake left Neytiri and Arashtka to exchange glances. She alone followed her mate out of the building.

* * *

The picture cut to black just after they were treated to the monitor's roller coaster ride. Hamlin sighed and signaled to his aide to cut the feed. "That could've gone better." Corporal McCarthy noted. "You think he'd fire on the base with his friends inside?"

"Don't worry." Hamlin assured. "Sully might look all big and tough on TV but underneath he's still a driver with a science degree. He won't risk anything if it means his tree loving friends could get hurt. You can always count on pacifist types to do what you tell them."

"Hope so. He looked pissed."

"Let him cool off. When he sees he has no choice, they'll go back in the trees where they belong."

"What if they don't?"

"We're not going home and telling everyone we sat by and let Captain Nutless do nothing about the situation here. We be court-martialed and lose our careers, benefits, retirement. I'm not putting up with that. I'd be a useless officer if I did or let anyone else do it. Besides, you really want to lose to a bunch of Greenpeace fighters and spear throwing cavemen?"

* * *

Muttering under his breath Jake stomped out across the airfield and made a beeline for the Scorpion where his weapons were. He had been half expecting a violent encounter since the _Centurion_ first arrived but it had seemed irrational fear until a few hours ago. It made it all that much more worse to find themselves in this predicament. Now the only thing on his mind was making sure they paid for it.

Breaking open his revolvers he began slamming rounds into them as a familiar gait came up behind him. "Mawey, Jake." Neytiri said.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" he barked as he continued to load the guns. "They want a war, we'll give them everything they could ever hope for."

"You're not thinking clear." she said as Jake strapped holsters to his legs.

"Yes I am. First I'm going to blow the top floor off and all the turrets along with it. Then were going to move in and put an arrow in every son of bitch we find."

"This is not a good plan." she said and he turned to face her.

"Well that's what is gonna happen. Now go tell the warriors to gather at the front of the base."

"No." she said and planted herself in the way, crossing her arms defiantly. Jake set his jaw and he put a loaded auto cannon revolver in its holster.

"Fine. I'll do it myself." he said and started past her. Though he spent more time with Neytiri than anyone else Jake did occasionally forget how fast she could move when she wanted to. Placing a single hand on his chest she stepped into a forceful shove that slammed Jake back against the hard exterior of the Scorpion. He hissed involuntarily at the surprise coupled with sudden pain and she hissed right back at him. Momentarily stunned by what had just happened he stared while she put one of her four fingers in his face.

"You stop! You stop and think, not go ahead all stupid! You_ lu kllfrivo' pehrr nga kurakx ayhewong_!"

Jake's heart throbbed in his chest and he breathed strenuously from the air being knocked out of him. He knew he was in trouble when she switched languages mid sentence. Getting back his composure he felt his blood lust dissipate under Neytiri's unyielding stare.

"All right. All right." He breathed out and sat down on the edge of the Scorpion's back cabin by his weapons. She sat next to him and took one of his hands in hers.

"You can find a better way." she said softly. "Think Jake."

"I don't know. I need Max and Norm. I can come up with plans that they're the ones that make them perfect. They poke holes in them and make them work in real life."

"And they are scared, captured. They count on _olo'eyktan_ to get them out. You can do this. I will help."

"Okay. So... they are on the lower levels with the hostages. If I were Hamlin I'd have men watching the entrances on the ground floor like hawks."

"Hawks?"

"Never mind. If we can get to the roof we can take out the sentries on each floor and work our way down. If we can trap them on the lower floors that eventually they'll have to surrender."

"But the turrrr-its Jake. "

"I know, I know. Maybe we should wait for nightfall. That will give us some cover. The ground floor would be guarded but we might be able to hit the second floor and attack from there. No... we need to catch them off guard."

"They will shoot if we are not careful."

"I know. It makes the most sense to attack from the roof but we can't do that until those turrets are off line. As far as I know they would have to be shut down from the command center."

"What do you do if we cannot take the roof?"

"Hmm... We can probably go in through the Armory. They'll be guarding it of course but at least we might be able to get the hostages before they start shooting them."

"Pilot man says they have barricades."

"Yeah, those will be tough to crack. Have an idea about that though. We just need a way to get inside without getting caught. Dammit I can't think of one."

They were working out different ways to gain entry to the base when a small beep from the cockpit caught Jake's ear. He ignored it while they started talking about airlocks when the beep interrupted him again. Annoyed at the disturbance he looked over at the seats see what could possibly be happening with the engines off. His comm light was blinking which meant there was an incoming call.

Confused as to how Hamlin had picked up his Scorpion call sign Jake pulled on the headset and strained from the backseat to punch the button to connect the caller.

"This is Sully." he said.

"Jake! Jake!" Norm's voice came in over the headset.

"Norm! Am I glad to hear your voice buddy."

"Jake, whatever you're planning, don't go on the ground floor. They have bombs at all the airlocks."

"Oh, crap. That would have been bad. Where are you?"

"We're in the lab. They don't know we're here yet."

"Whose we?"

"Me, Tess, Don and Claire."

"Everyone okay?"

"Uh... I may have been shot again."

"God dammit. Are you going to make it?"

"I'll be fine Jake, really. What's the plan?"

"I need you to shut down the turrets on top of the Hab Complex. Can you do that from there?"

"Um... No. I don't think so. Most of the controls were rerouted to the lower levels from the Ops Center since it has a giant hole in the ceiling."

"Dammit." Jake cursed. He was hoping Norm's computer skills could solve his dilemma but not this time.

"Jake? It's Tess." The driver's voice came across.

"Hey."

"I think we can help."

"How?"

"We can link up here and climb up onto the roof with our avatars. Should be able to boost ourselves the whole way up."

Jake felt his frustration and worry fall a way in an instant at the mention of a possible answer to his problems. "Do you know how to shut them down?" he asked.

"No, but we can sure as hell smash a rock into their electronic guts if we have to."

"Wait, Tess, there's soldiers up there. You'll be shot as soon as they see you."

"Well, get their attention or something and we'll take them by surprise. How many are there?"

"I don't know, five or six."

"We can handle it Jake. Throw some fireworks at them so they won't see us coming."

"Are you sure Tess? They-"

"Are going to get their asses kicked. I said we can do it."

"Fine, fine. How long from now till you get to the roof?"

"Twenty minutes maybe."

"All right, we'll find something to get them looking this way in fifteen. When the soldiers are down and the turrets knocked out give us a signal we can see from up high."

"Got it. Oh and Jake." she said lowering her voice for some reason. "Make it ten minutes. Norm's lost a lot of blood already."

"R-roger that." he said shut down the comm link.

"What's going on?" Neytiri asked.

"Norm's dying." Jake said in a faraway voice while trying to think of something to get the rebel soldier's attention. "Some avatar drivers are going to disable the roof drones so we can get inside. We just need to find a way to... distract them."

She took a moment to process the information he just told her and put a hand on his shoulder. "Norm will live Jake. He is a stubborn _tawtute_. Now, what do we do?"

"Fireworks. Hmm...how about we blow up the shuttle? That'll get their attention."

"Why not this?" she asked and pointed up at the roof of the Scorpion.

"Oh. Dur. Good idea. That's why I love you, always thinking. Er... wait. I can't operate this and lead the attack at the same time."

"Let me lead."

"No. I need you down here. Arashtka's with me. You're next in line."

"But-"

"No arguing Neytiri. No one can do what you do. If they run for the Armory you're going to be there to scatter them."

"But who uses the machine?"

"I don't know yet, someone who...knows how to fly. I got it. I know exactly what to do. Come on, time to stop saving arrows and use them."


	9. Chapter 9

Inside the hostages huddled on the floor under the guard of exactly sixteen men including the unnaturally calm Major Hamlin. Three people in the command center lay stretched out on the ground with severe injuries, two from bullets and one being the comatose Captain Alberon. Next to him a lone Na'vi was bound, ankles tied together and blindfolded. Max Patel scanned his colleagues and friends nervously. He didn't know what was going to happen but it probably would not end well for anyone.

The scientist along with most of the Pandoran humans had helped Jake rig the entirety of St. Augustine with the leftover explosives the RDA did not get a chance to use in their disastrous war. One of the control pads was locked up in Max's living quarters. The other was in the Omaticayan Hometree among Jake's personal belongings. If the _olo'eyktan_ entered the codes the entire base would be nothing more a than smoking memory. Max was trying to calm down a panicking hostage when Hamlin strolled casually by.

"Your friends don't seem to be going anywhere Doc." he said pleasantly.

"You're crazy." Max spat. "This plan will never work."

"If I were you I'd hope it does." The officer grinned.

"You don't get it do you?" Max shook his head. "You can kill all of us, it won't make a difference in the long run. Jake would rather blow St. Augustine to smithereens than let you people have it back."

"I'm willing to bet he won't do that as long as you're still here." Hamlin countered. "Either way, doesn't look good for you."

A faint chopping sound came in from outside and the comm unit on Hamlin crackled. "Uh Major, this is Roof Team."

"What are they doing?" Hamlin demanded.

"Um, starting up the Scorpion near the Armory sir."

The bemused look on Hamlin's face was rapidly replaced by a serious one. Max flashed a quiet smile. "Not looking very good for any of us is it?"

"Roof Team, Units A and B, I want eyes forward, heavy guns ready for work..."

* * *

It took some trial and error but like any cockpit there were standard gauges and controls all aircraft needed. It didn't help that his head was killing him and his ribs still ached from repeated blows. Nevertheless Brian Deskel began to warm up the Scorpion's engines just like Jake had told him. He felt like a child in the front seat refitted for a Na'vi pilot and he wasn't sure if he could get the chopper in the air without crashing. Hopefully just the implied threat of it taking to the sky was enough.

* * *

"We will circle above until we see the sky people have been conquered. Then we will dive into their domain. We will destroy them level by level with the speed and silence of a hunter tracking his meal. When they discover we are there, it will already be too late."

Whoops and cries went out from the warriors gathered around him. "We are Omaticaya, we are as fierce as the bringer of death. Our brothers wait for us, held by sky people that have not learned their lesson. Again they trespass on our land. Again they ignore our laws. Today they pay the penalty. Our arrows will be the last thing they see!"

The crowd roared around him and he shouted over them, "We ride!"

* * *

Covering up their blue skin with whatever green clothes they could find in the lodge the three avatars slipped out the back door. The closest thing they could find the weapons were heavy duty flashlights made from carbon steel. Making sure they would not come loose during a climb they headed back the way they came. Crawling along the edge of the base's fences they worked their way back to the Hab Complex. The climb would not be easy and they would have to avoid as many windows as possible.

Tess had already explained the hardest part would be the final floor to the top. The easiest would be the first flat area at the rear of the building some twenty meters long before the main tower of the complex. After that there would be three floors to cover. They would have to use ledges of the building and pull themselves up using only their arms. Worse, there were windows that would show anyone who cared to look what they were doing. It was game over for all of them if that happened.

Using Don is a stepping stone Tess and then Claire boosted up to the first rung of the building. Scanning for any signs of detection she and Tess them both reached down and hoisted the male up with them. Crouching they scrambled to the second floor and began to hear the sound of an aircraft powering up from far away as they lined up.

"Crap! He started already." Tess whispered. "We're behind."

Claire looked up at the building they would be climbing. It was not terribly tall but a mistake would mean certain injury or worse. She never much liked rope climbing in gym class. This would be like that only with hundred times more pressure. The concern must've been showing on her face when Tess glanced over.

"Hey, c'mon, stay with me." she urged softly. "Everyone's counting on us. All we have to do is get up there, beat up some of these pricks and Jake will take care of the rest."

"Easier said than done." Claire breathed out, trying to psych herself up.

"All right, here we go." Tess said and undaunted she jumped up to the first ledge. Hauling herself up just enough to see the windows Tess grunted and swung her leg up to the ledge with her. Getting her center of gravity onto the ledge she quickly motioned for them to follow and jumped up to the next ledge without hesitation. Trying to catch up Claire copied Tess' technique and found it surprisingly easy to drag herself up to the ledge. She was still getting used to the low gravity and her well muscled avatar body but she expected it to be more difficult. Her confidence bolstered she leapt up for the next one when signaled.

When she made it to the third level, just one shy the last before the roof, she found Tess waiting for her. When Don joined them Claire looked down and saw a leg breaking fall waiting should she slip. She decided to keep her eyes up instead of down.

"There's some soldiers at this end of the hall above us." Tess whispered. "They're all facing the front though. If they turn, they'll see us. We have to go all at once, only a few seconds max. Make sure your tail doesn't hang down or we're screwed. We gotta be fast."

Tess put up three fingers and counted off the digits. Claire didn't have time to freak out before all three of them jumped in unison.

* * *

Inside the third floor all eyes were supposed to be forward except two soldiers that were assigned to watch the other direction. At the moment they had temporarily abandoned their duty at the sound of the Scorpion. It became hypnotically boring to watch the same view for hours on end and when the engines began they could not help but look anywhere else.

"I can barely see all the way down there. If they shoot at us we'll be the last to know it's coming." The first complained.

"How would that help even if we could see it? We're on the other side at least. We have a lot of wall in between us and that thing." The second argued.

"At least if I see it aiming then I can duck. Let's get to the other side and check it out."

"Nuh uh. Major said to stay at our assigned lookout spots. We move and he'll put us on the front door."

"Yeah well what if the asshole in the whirly bird starts playing catch the missile with the base? I'm sure as hell going to move."

"Yeah but – wait did you hear that?"

"Can't hear anything but the chopper."

"No, it was like a... noise."

"Noise?"

"From outside."

They turned behind them to scan the windows for some sort of disturbance but found nothing. The second soldier walked to the window and looked out on the base below but found nothing out of the ordinary. Not even the trees moved it was so calm.

"Huh. Guess it was nothing."

"Man, all kinds of weird shit is out there. I don't know how people stay here for more than a week. It's only been a few hours and this place is already getting on my nerves."

"Ain't that the truth."

* * *

Trying to move too quickly Claire had not fully secured her position when attempting to swing her legs up to the roof. Don had already made it up and turned to her just as she began to lose her grip. Reaching out in slow motion he could not stop her fall. Even as gravity pulled her down she thought of a painful death on the hard concrete below either from the impact or from being discovered. Flailing effectually against the sheer surface moving away from her Claire felt white-hot pain explode from the back of her head as her descent halted. She let out a half garbled cry and clamped her hand over her mouth. The incredible pain was coming from her queue and she realized someone had caught it.

Flicking her tail into her other hand she curled up away from the windows as best she could. Even as it felt like someone was ripping her scalp off she heard soldiers talking and kept her teeth clenched to avoid making another sound. When strong hands got under her she let go of her mouth and latched onto someone's forearm for dear life. Roughly, painfully, they lifted her up onto the roof's edge. Claire gladly tumbled onto the concrete and the pain subsided.

The three of them rested there a moment getting their breath back. Scanning the area for danger the throbbing in the back of Claire's head grudgingly lessened. The center of the roof had a ramp to prevent rainwater from collecting no thanks to the harsh thunderstorms of Pandora. It was high enough to obscure their view of the soldiers on the other side. Near the left center of the roof was a small human sized entrance to the stairwell and the rest of the base.

"That...really...hurt." she gasped in a low tone.

"Not...done yet." Tess reminded them. "Thanks for the – whew! - heart attack by the way. C'mon, we're almost at the end."

Though Claire would rather lay there another ten minutes recuperating the thought of Norm bleeding to death spurred her on. She followed Tess in a crawl up to the top of the sloping ramp. The surface of the roof was rough and unkind to people inching along it. It was some thirty meters wide with high ledges for humans. On each corner sat the fearsome anti-air batteries that would slaughter anything attacking from above. They were so very close to shutting them down but the most dangerous part was just over the ridge waiting for them.

* * *

Very high above and far away Jake lifted a pair of binoculars up to his eyes. He made out the avatars laying down with a group of humans watching the Scorpion unaware of their presence. The _olo'eyktan_ decided to make things a little more interesting. He touched his comm unit and gave very specific instructions.

* * *

They made it to the edge and peered over at the cluster of soldiers crowded around the front of the building. There were actually eight them much to Claire's chagrin. She'd been in a couple of fights that were mostly hair pulling that were unfortunately the extent of her combat training. She began to feel ill.

"All right, here we go. Get out your flashlights." Tess said. Claire pulled hers out and gripped it with her sweaty palm.

"Are we ready?" Tess whispered. Claire nearly threw up on the spot.

"I...I can't do this." She sputtered.

"What?" Tess hissed.

"I can't, just-" Claire's words were cut off when Tess reached out and gripped her by the collar dragging her inches away from the other avatars face. "Listen to me you soft Earth bitch, everyone I know is downstairs with a gun to their head." she whispered harshly. Claire had never seen this side of her friend before."If you don't help when they need it most you can go the hell back to where you came from with the rest of them!"

She let go and Claire sucked in some air, shrinking away from the other woman. Glancing over at Don he was just as shocked and frightened as she was. "I'll go without you two if I have to." Tess growled and raised herself up towards the front of the base.

From the airfield shots began to ring out like firecrackers. The air was filled with the sound of whizzing bullets that drowned out anything else. Tess looked back at them and jumped up to one knee. "Go!" she cried and launched herself forward. Pounding down the other side of the ramp Don said something to Claire as he charged after Tess. Swept up with them Claire didn't think about what she was doing and ran as hard as she could holding the flashlight high.

* * *

"What the hell is going on?" Hamlin shouted.

"Sir!" came a static reply. "They've opened fire!"

"On what?" Hamlin demanded.

"Uh...I don't know sir. The building? No units in danger. Do we return fire?"

"Are the shades down?"

"Yes sir."

"Are they behind the barricade still?"

"Yes sir."

"Then no you idiot. They want us to waste bullets shooting back. Keep watch and only fire when you can take them down."

* * *

The avatars attacked with such speed and ferocity three of the eight soldiers were unconscious before the rest realized what was happening. Clare swung her flashlight like a bat and caught a soldier on the chin just as he was turning a dumbstruck face towards her. Don swung over hand and cracked an enemy on the top of the skull like he was hammering a nail into the ground.

One pointed a gun at Tess got her hands on him before he could fire. She lifted him off the ground and slammed him head first into the concrete. The sound of gunfire and bullets ricocheting were all around them but it broke out anew close by and Claire watched a soldier drill Don through the upper body before he took a flashlight to the face. The last one standing lined up a shot on Tess so Claire jumped forward and tackled him to the ground with her hundred and forty kilo body. He squirmed underneath her but it was like a child fighting off an adult. Ripping his gun away she clumsily struck downward. She felt glass buckle under her balled fist and saw the soldier's eyes roll back in his head.

Blood pounded in her ears and Claire pumped her lungs rapidly. In an adrenaline daze she saw no more enemies standing. Stumbling off the soldier she sat back awkwardly. The danger was over at the moment but she felt like she had been drugged. Everything was incredibly real, colors brighter, the sounds of gunfire still ringing out were sharper. She was dizzy and felt detached while she turned her head over to Don. He was on all fours looking down at holes in his chest as if they were going to disappear any moment. Tess was snatching guns from the soldiers even as some of them groaned and thrashed slowly on the ground.

The furious offensive from the front of the base ceased. Looking down at the man she'd incapacitated Claire saw that she had cracked his exopack. She wasn't sure if he was breathing correctly but he hadn't gone into convulsions yet so she stopped caring. Forcing herself up she helped Tess make a pile of guns in front of Don who had sat on his rear and was trying to breath. Kneeling to his side Claire evaluated at the damage. He'd taken one just under his armpit and one through the top of his shoulder.

"This...sucks." He wheezed painfully. Claire took off her jacket and wrapped it around his waist tightening pressure on the chest wound. Removing the tank top under it she wrapped the shirt around top of the shoulder and tied it down.

"Uh...you're naked." Don panted.

"They're boobs Don, get over it." she replied and picked up a rifle. Tess had finished dragging the soldiers into a rough group and returned to her fellow drivers. Unbuttoning her jacket she tossed it to Claire and asked, "Don can you hold a gun?"

"Kind of, hurts, to breathe, but yeah." he managed to get out while Claire dressed.

"Claire, give him a gun. Keep an eye on them buddy, we gotta take down those turrets."

"How?" She asked while getting the Don's shaking hands around a rifle's grip.

"Work it out. We're running out of time." Taking her flashlight Tess took off for the first of the turrets. Patting Don a second Claire spotted her blunt weapon and nabbed it on her way the opposite direction from Tess.

The turret was about as tall as she was mounted on a swiveling base that allowed it to aim. Four large, piston like barrels waited silently for something to cross their path. At the bottom of the turret there was a thick mass of jury-rigged wiring coming out of the roof into the side of a control box complete with keypad and LED screen. Not exactly sure if it would do anything she started bashing in the electronic panel and ripping out cords where she found them. After smashing through the fragile glass she found a mess of wires and computing boards further inside. Putting her hand around a thicker cable she pulled on it roughly and it broke only to give her a powerful electric jolt.

She shook for a moment before her nervous system righted itself. She had felt the shock from the tip of her ears to the end of her tail all at once. Shuddering her body to work out the kinks she turned her attention back to the task at hand. Angered now she used her flashlight to start destroying circuit boards and everything else she could reach that wasn't that sparking cable.

Someone came up behind her and Claire whipped her head up to find Tess staring at her. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Claire asked heatedly.

"Uh...you can shut it down from the screen at the bottom."

"Oh."

"It's set up like an old text only computer. Type in block commands to shut down and it'll turn off."

"Huh."

"But what you did was good. Let's finish them off."

Jogging along the edge of the building Claire took the closest turret. Letting the tiny screen light up she began entering as soon as it allowed her. Punching in the shutdown command the small display thought about it for a few second before it gave a configuration number and turned itself off. Not sure if that really was all there was to it Claire ripped out the cords running into the panel for good measure. Jogging over to Tess they met up at the halfway point between the turrets near where they had spilled onto the building in the first place.

"What now?" Claire asked.

"Signal Jake."

"Uh...how?"

"I don't know." Tess admitted. Claire couldn't think of anything so she started doing jumping jacks in the air. After twenty or so seconds it didn't seem to be helping anything other than making her look foolish.

"A for effort." Tess grumbled. "We need a flag or something."

Their planning was cut short by a row of dots coming from the clouds. When they grew into recognizable shapes of_ ikran makto _the pair hurried back to the other side of the roof. Some soldiers had recovered but Don watched them so closely he did not look up when the two women joined him. Picking up a rifle Claire kept it pointed in the soldier's direction. She wasn't sure if it was even ready to fire but it probably didn't matter to the men on the other end.

Seconds ticked by and silent as a gentle breeze a swarm of _ikran_ landed on the edge of the building. The riders slid quickly down and mingled with the drivers while the beasts remained quietly where they were. On the heads of the Na'vi were OX packs, across their backs and shoulders were guns and hunting bows. There were ten of them total and Claire recognized none except Jake coming through the group.

"Neck object." Jake said in Na'vi and pointed at the soldiers. Immediately the other Omaticaya stripped the comm units from the soldiers both awake and still out.

"He gonna be okay?" Jake nodded at Don.

"I'll be...fine." Don exhaled slowly. "Get everyone out."

Jake started to say something when the comm units buzzed to life. "Roof team, this is Unit C. What's going on? Heard some thumps."

Jake motioned for one of the devices and lowered his voice before replying, "Thought we saw some banshees and a couple guys hit the deck. Gettin' jumpy up here."

"Ten-four, need some backup?"

"Clear it with command Unit C but that's fine with us."

"This is Major Hamlin." the comm unit popped. "All units hold positions. Roof team, grow a pair and keep your eyes peeled."

"Ten-four." Jake said into the unit before shutting it off and wrapping it around his forearm. "We're going in, you guys okay by yourselves?"

"I'll go with you." Tess answered for them.

"No. You stay here and cover our exit." Jake said and turned to leave. Tess caught his arm and her voice was suddenly full of emotion.

"Jake. Bring Terry back in one piece."

The _olo'eyktan_ put his hand over hers and looked back over his shoulder. "I won't let you down." he promised and his team fell in behind him heading for the stairwell. Tess took a seat next to Don and Clare plunked herself against the other woman's back facing the opposite direction. If enemies came from that way at least she would see them coming.

"Whose Terry?" she asked.

"My husband." Tess replied glumly.


	10. Chapter 10

Moving into the stairwell Jake and his soldiers slipped on their OX packs and silently shut the door behind them. They had three floors to cover with possible enemies on each one. Heading down with guns ready Jake had planned on this action being as quiet as possible for as long as possible. He viewed this as nothing but the opening shots to try to cut down as many of Hamlin's soldiers as they could before the real battle began.

They advanced all the way to the bottom in a tight pack putting barrels at every door along the way. Leaving two warriors at the ground floor entrance they worked their way back up dropping off three warriors at the second and third floors leaving the fourth for Jake and Arashtka. He couldn't be sure how many of the seventy-plus soldiers would be posted on each floor but they would probably be looking at a two to one disadvantage even for the three-man teams. It would not be the first time they faced uneven odds but this would be a little different.

As the rest of the Omaticaya moved into position Jake steeled himself for combat. In the past he would let his passion bubble to the surface and fight with no fear holding him back. It helped put him in the proper state of mind and focused his killer instinct. It was not so this time. There was no glory, no righteousness to drive him. There was not even room for anger. This was survival for him and everyone he knew. He was calm, still. When he moved against the soldiers he would be swift, noiseless and ruthless.

His Na'vi ears picked up the light tapping on the bottom of the stairwell. Jake met eyes with Arashtka and nodded. "We move." he whispered into his comm link. Putting his gun away Jake nocked an arrow on his war bow and thought briefly of Neytiri. He recalled her face and all its tiny scars and imperfections exactly as it was. If he met his end here and now then at least he would go thinking of her.

He pushed open the door in front of them and ducked into the hallway. Quickly scanning both directions he found no enemies in sight. Motioning Arashtka to come out with him he caught the door and gently closed it behind them without making a sound.

The building had hallways in rectangular rings with the rooms in the center. Jake guessed that any soldiers on the floor would be watching the front of the base and hopefully none would be hiding in the many interior rooms. Pointing one finger at himself he pointed left before making the same motion for Arashtka to go right. His subordinate nodded and padded down the hall with his bow ready. Creeping left Jake almost immediately heard sounds of enemy activity. Staying light on his feet he covered the ground to the edge of the wall where it turned right.

They had opened the shutters enough to allow the soldiers to see outside and light was coming in. As he neared the corner Jake could see long shadows cast by a trio of men in the window's reflection. They chatted in low voices and he guessed they were some ten to fifteen meters away. It was not too great of a distance to cover but he would have to be fast.

Making it to the corner undetected Jake peeked around and could see the reflections in the glass more clearly. One of the men seemed to be pacing while the other two had motionless shadows. Taking a good breath he waited until the walking soldier's shadow overlapped with one of his comrades. Pulling back on his bow he stepped out and let the arrow loose where they had momentarily lined up. He broke into a full sprint even as the deadly bolt struck home.

The nearly two meter arrow plowed through the first soldier with enough force to nearly pass through the second. As it was it stopped after impaling the second man in the chest cavity. They remain standing in disbelief as to what had just happened to them before their legs gave out. The third soldier watched them fall in horror and saw Jake coming who threw his giant bow ahead of him.

Even by Na'vi standards the gray war bow was fairly heavy. When it connected with the soldier's body it should have knocked him over but the human staggered back on his feet somehow still standing. He was dazed and it was all the time Jake needed to ram his knife into the center of the man's chest. The soldier's arms fell to the sides and he let out a long breath as he sank against Jake's arm. Blood spattered on his forearm as Jake lay the soldier down on the floor and he checked around him for more enemies but found none.

Replacing the knife Jake picked up his bow and headed further down the hall with an arrow ready. He heard sounds coming from down the corridor and he raced towards it as softly as he could without sacrificing speed. Rounding another corner to the opposite side of the building where they had entered he heard a muffled scream and three Spec Ops burst out into the hall from an interior room only meters in front of him.

Jake did not have time to thank someone for his good luck. One of the men stopped and lifted his hand to his neck just as Jake put an arrow between his shoulder blades. When the other two whirled around Jake's spiked bow was there and ripped their guns from their hands just before the rest of him crashed into the men. The three of them scrambled to get hands on weapon and Jake's knife found a throat first. The second man was pulling out his side arm when an arrow erupted from his chest.

Arashtka stood at the other end of the hall and let his shooting arm down. Jake whirled his head around before taking a moment to dry his slick blade on a patch of fatigues. Getting to his feet he collected his bow and pulled his arrow free. Breathing out of his nose to help slow down his heart rate he jogged down to the hall to his companion.

"We are alone." Arashtka said. Jake nodded and together they headed back to the stairwell.

* * *

Hamlin was sitting in a very comfortable leather chair when he finally got some good news. His comm unit reported, "Sir, this is the roof, the natives appear to be backing away."

Sitting up Hamlin smirked at Corporal McCarthy and said into his link, "Finally. Keep an eye on them. Sully might be trying something funny."

"Roger that. Sir, one more thing. We spotted some bird looking things passing overhead and the guns here didn't shoot at them. Can someone check their status down there and up here? We can't make heads or tails of the electronics on these things."

"Affirmative Roof Team. Sit tight and keep tracking them."

"Ten-four."

"Johnson, handle this computer stuff, make sure the system is running." Hamlin ordered. "McCarthy, take that smeg head Rhimmer upstairs with a few boys and have him check the connections."

"Probably just needs a diagnostic." McCarthy said.

"I don't give a damn what it is, just go check it like I told you to. Now move." Hamlin commanded. Giving him a dirty look McCarthy nevertheless did as he was told and started collecting a squad. How the man made it to corporal with such a poor attitude the major would never know.

They passed through the two manned barricades towards the outer edge of the building and the stairwell that connected all of the floors. McCarthy was in a foul mood as he led the squad and the tech expert up to the roof. He never liked the major in any way but for some reason Hamlin seemed to think they were friends. This was beneficial to a point but McCarthy didn't enjoy being his lapdog.

They were passing the second floor when McCarthy could hear laughing coming from the main hallway. Rolling his eyes he turned towards the door to straighten out some of the idiots who were joking around instead of being on watch. Pushing open the door he didn't see anyone but was annoyed enough to track them down.

"You better have a damn good reason-" he started to say.

"Freeze!" A rough voice behind him commanded. "First man to turn gets it in the back."

McCarthy didn't move. There was no way to see behind him to find out if it was an idle threat or not. "Drop 'em, slow. One of you tries to turn around and I open up a hidey hole where your spine should be."

Realizing now that this was no joke McCarthy did as he was told and slowly lowered his rifle to the floor with the rest of the squad following suit. The person behind him made a noise and a half dozen Na'vi with chopper sized rifles came out of the woodwork. With guns trained on them several of the natives patted down McCarthy and his men removing sidearms and anything else they could find. Forced to sit the corporal turned back to see who had held them up. Behind a gigantic revolver that probably weighed ten kilos was the deathly serious face of Jake Sully.

McCarthy didn't even want to know what would've happened if someone had turned around. There was no hesitation or newbie jitters on the driver's visage. At this range that gun would have drilled through three or four of them. How a bunch of blue ogres managed to get into the base and wax their sentries without being detected McCarthy couldn't imagine. What he did know is that somewhere along the line the major had made a titanic miscalculation about the Na'vi and their leader.

"Who's in charge?" Sully demanded. Nervously clearing his throat McCarthy said, "I am."

Holstering the hand cannon Sully took a single stride over to the corporal and said, "Get up." McCarthy complied against his will. It was difficult to maintain a semblance of dignity when he was helpless and captured but McCarthy attempted to anyway. They moved over to one of the empty offices and Sully put him against the wall.

"Where your men positioned?"

"My... my name is Corporal Jonathan McCarthy. Serial 786432." He said in the least shaky voice he could.

Sully stared into him but nodded. "I admire your courage soldier." he said. "But you started breaking the rules the second you got here. I don't have time for this. I'm going to ask you one more time the nice way. Where are your men positioned?"

"Corporal Jonathan McCarthy, 786432."

With little effort the avatar driver slammed McCarthy into the wall by his throat. A millisecond later a white-hot barb ripped through skin and bone pinning McCarthy to the wall with jackhammer force. He howled in agony but it came out as little more than a gurgling sound. The driver released his grip and McCarthy's knees almost buckled from the pain. Turning his head to see what was lodged in his clavicle McCarthy saw a knife buried to the hilt in his shoulder. Blinking through the burning, searing feeling he lifted his head back to Sully. His captor was blank faced, emotionless.

"If you keep holding out on me I'm going to have to get nasty. You wouldn't like me being nasty."

McCarthy was no traitor and he did not think of himself as a coward. He was however a realist and reality wasn't presenting many options. They talked.

* * *

Above them Claire waited impatiently for something to happen. While she certainly didn't want to do any more fighting she did want the fighting to be over. It was frustrating to know nothing about the situation below but they had to hope for the best. She also wanted to believe that Don's avatar would be usable in the long run since there was little possibility of replacing it.

"How are you doing Don?" she asked.

"I think I'm okay. I think I'm in shock. It doesn't hurt so much if I don't move for the most part. It comes and goes." he replied and kept breathing steady.

"You should get back to the lab." Tess suggested.

"No." Don refused. "I'm not totally useless. If I can do anything here to help I want to."

The pile of comm units next to them buzzed in unison. "Corporal, what's the status of my guns up there?"

"Seems to be some atmospheric interference. Rhimmer is working it out sir."

"Good. What are the natives doing?"

"Seem to be moving back farther sir. Sully is doing just what you said he would."

"Excellent. Keep me posted." The units went quiet with that last transmission.

"You think they're okay?" Claire asked worriedly.

"They're fine." Tess said. "These things would work even in the heaviest radiation periods. Jake must have a hold of that guy that was talking. You just keep an eye on that door."

"I just don't want anyone else getting shot. Oh my God! Norm!" Claire remembered.

"Oh crap."

"We have to check on him."

"I'll go." Tess said.

"No." Claire shook her head. "You need to stay here. I don't know if I could shoot if someone comes through the door. You...would Tess."

The other driver made a face but nodded soberly. "Go."

Clare laid down on the roof and closed her eyes. Concentrating on her breathing she felt herself slowing down and the ground began to sink under her. Popping her eyes open she focused on the interior of the pod as she came to in her true form. Opening the hatch she forced herself to sit up. The days events transferred remarkably well to her original body and she ached in places she didn't even know she had. There was even a sore spot at the base of her neck as she slid out onto the floor.

Finding Norm with his eyes closed Claire feared the worst. He'd vomited on himself at some point while they been away and the touchscreen had fallen from his lap. "Norm. Norm." She said as loud as she dared and shook his shoulder gently.

Opening his eyes he mumbled, "Jeez, not so loud..."

"I thought you were, uh..."

"Nah, I was just resting my eyes." Looking around them Claire spotted some tissue and snatched it off someone's desk. She cleaned him off as best she could with the wads of paper while they spoke.

"What's going on?"

"Jake's inside. Shouldn't be much longer." Claire assured him without really knowing if her words were true.

"Probably going to charge in head first. That _skxawng_."

"What else can he do?"

"I've had some time to think things over. I've got a better way." Norm promised.

"Jake doesn't seem like the type that takes advice about this sort of thing."

"I'm dying. He'll humor me."

Claire wanted to tell him that it wouldn't be like that but how could she? There was no guaranteeing even her own safety. She had to hope for the best and if need be at least be there to hold Norm's hand as he passed away.

* * *

"This is boring as hell."

"Right? I mean, is this all we've got to do the next year? Sit behind some sandbags and watch a hallway?"

"You heard the major. They're already moving away. Give it a week or two and we'll be able to relax a bit."

"I don't know. I don't like this one bit."

"Better than getting sent to So'merica getting paid for shit."

"I guess."

The double doors across from the barricade opened abruptly. A blur of blue arms appeared from behind the doors and whitish objects came flying at them. By the time the soldiers realized what was going on and shot back the door slammed shut again. They lit up the area anyway in case a few rounds would go through the metal doors. When the clips ended the soldiers ducked down behind the bags.

"Christ! They're in the base!"

"No kidding. Oh damn, Jim, you took a... something to the chest."

The assailants had thrown a number of whitish globs into the room with dark rocks in the center. While they were all over the barricade one was stuck to the torso and helmets of the two guards.

"What's this?"

"I don't know, it's not coming off. Great, now my hand's stuck."

The first soldier peered closely at the helmet of the second. "Hey Jim."

"Yeah?"

"I think those are charges in the middle."

"Oh. Oh. Crap. We're pretty dead are we?"

"Looks that way."

"Shit. I was gonna buy a boat when I got home."

"Jim?"

"Yeah buddy?"

"I've always loved you."

"Wh- really?"

* * *

The explosions shook the reinforced walls of the base from top to bottom. Inside the huddled humans, both oppressed and the oppressors, felt the alarm of something critical about to happen. Many of the soldiers were hardened and were not afraid but knew things were not going to plan and that made them very nervous. The Na'vi outside had been waiting for that signal and began moving. The Na'vi inside moved forward with murderous intent. A dying scientist was woken up slightly by one of the loudest sounds he'd ever heard. The woman beside him teetered on the edge of hysteria but kept her cool for his sake. A lone warrior charged headlong into danger and out in the trees, far away, a savage predator was rapidly approaching.


	11. Chapter 11

The explosions happened within seconds of each other. All eyes in the room turned to Major Hamlin whose mind raced to assess the situation. He had let himself be suckered into a false sense of security and now his enemies had the upper hand. He did not think Sully would try something with all of his friends so very close to quick retribution. He heard scattered gunfire from somewhere on the floor and he could swear there were 30 mm rounds being fired but that was impossible. An AMP suit wouldn't have a chance of fitting in the base.

He had been planning a contingency for a direct assault that he sincerely hoped would not have to be used. It seemed he had to accelerate his plans to match the situation. He touched his comm unit, "Hamlin to all units, converge on ground level, eliminate all hostiles on the way. Ground units, fall back to defensive positions."

Turning around he addressed the soldiers in the main camp. "All of you, get the hostages to the outer ring. Briggs, take five of them and secure the route to the armory. Johnson, you're with me up front. Get Patel and two of his friends and bring them to the north barricade."

The soldiers sprung into action and started putting hostages in front of their sandbag defense system giving them a wall of psychological protection as well as physical. Hamlin was betting the human obstructions would slow down the attackers far more than his bullets would. Taking a rifle he personally put Patel on his knees in front of the sand bags on the north point of the fortified area and hunkered down them.

"Prepare to withdraw to the armory once we make contact." Hamlin told the soldiers around him. "We are only staying long enough to make sure they cap their own people."

They waited tensely for the enemy to make their move. When something happened it wasn't quite the attack Hamlin was expecting. The base's PA system crackled on and dished out some eardrum stabbing feedback before righting itself. "Attention hostile aliens." A voice greeted them. "Your actions have angered the people for the last time. They have decided to take the base from you and end all of your lives. So good riddance." Hamlin recognized Sully's voice with the last line.

"The rest of this message is for my friends and recent acquaintances. I'm...I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I've been overruled. They are going to...wipe all of the humans out. I tried to get them to stop but they're sick of their people dying, sick of humans destroying everything they work to build. I don't know what else to say. They won't listen to me anymore. Max...try to talk to them. We've done so much to help, maybe they'll spare a few of you. I'm...I'm so sorry."

Sully then began to speak in a long string of alien. Alarmed Hamlin came around the barricade to prod a horrified Patel with the barrel of his rifle. "What the hell is he saying?"

"It's...it's a funeral prayer." Patel said in disbelief. A ripple went through the hostages and hostage takers alike. One of the men on the ground next to Max gripped his arm in terror.

"Max, he's kidding right? They can't do that can they?" The hysterical man said. Patel's eyes were wild and Hamlin could see that he was thinking rapidly.

"Major, you have to take us with you! They'll kill us all!" the previously smug scientist squealed.

"The hell I do." Hamlin snarled. "You traitors earned this shit. You're gonna be the first to meet your blue friends. Get to your feet."

"What for?"

"Shut up. All of you, move. Get walking to the end of the hall."

"But they'll kill us!" One of the hostages protested.

Hamlin cocked his rifle purely for dramatic effect. It was not necessary to fire the gun as it was ready to shoot anyway but the effect was one that civilians would understand as meaning business. "What do you think I'm going to do?"

The man went white and Hamlin motioned north with the gun. They were nearly halfway down the hall marching uncertainly when the major heard commotion from where the hall intersected with another passageway some twenty meters away. He ducked back behind the barricade with his men while the three continued to walk forward like sacrificial victims. Hamlin wasn't entirely convinced the aliens would shoot their friends but if they did he wanted to be sure that annoying doctor was the first to go.

From the opposite end of the hall a blue head popped out behind a giant machine gun and disappeared as fast as it had emerged. Immediately the three men began to run forward putting up their hands. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" One of them began to say over and over as they neared the corner. Even though it was far away Hamlin saw the end of one of the massive rifles raise up when the three men came to the intersection.

The aliens dropped the hammer at the other end of the hall and the first man screamed as he went down in a hail of over sized bullets. Patel and the other man tried to slow down their momentum but it was too late. Hamlin could see the walls and floor taking the stray shots as the other two men shrieked as they were shredded apart.

Around him his men looked to him for the next step. Hamlin had been hoping for some sort of elaborate bluff on Sullys part but things were getting out of hand. If they weren't going to stop for their friends then the least the hostages could do would be to buy Hamlin some time.

"Fall back. Fall back!" He ordered and squeezed off a few rounds at the corner where he had last seen the aliens shooting from. He heard guns going off at one of his other barricades and knew the Na'vi were making their move. Running through his command center he shouted "Evac to the armory! Packs ready, all pilots and class AA mechanized to the front! Leave the hostages where they are, move, move, move!"

Pulling on an exopack Hamlin waited impatiently for the soldiers at the outskirts of their barricades to return to the command center. When enough of them had gathered he quickly led them out of the fortified area down the route he had his men secure. Keeping guns trained every direction they moved swiftly through the empty base. The men sent ahead were waiting with five hostages at the large gate that led to the tunnel running into the armory. It was a large enough for three AMP suits to walk side by side down the length of it. They began lowering the door as the major and the rest of the soldiers approached.

"You want us to put them out front?" One of his men asked.

"No. Leave them on the other side of the door. Matter of fact, get their hands bound and drop an empty side arm in front of them." The major instructed. They quickly complied as the door sank into the ground and the open tunnel showed itself. Jogging ahead into the dark corridor Hamlin twisted the exopack on and motioned for them to follow him. Their boots echoed in the tunnel as the men at the rear shut the door behind them and busted the controls just in case.

It took them perhaps thirty seconds to get the other side of the tunnel. His men started to open the gate and yellow warning lights with alarms began to go off to let them know toxic air was about to come in. Taking a knee Hamlin pointed his weapon at the door as it opened along with two rows of the soldiers. When the door sank down into the floor they saw that the armory was thankfully empty. Though many of the AMP suits were missing the ones that were still there were a sight for sore eyes.

"Fan out, pilots into hardware double time! I want every suit with a body in it and heavy weapons ready to attack them from behind!" Hamlin shouted. The suit directly in front of them had his name on it and he prepared to sprint towards it when he felt tiny tremors in the ground. Stopping only a few meters out of the tunnel he waited as the shaking swiftly grew and was soon accompanied by the sight of a giant creature thundering towards them. He looked left at the open entrance of the armory as a charging _Thanatora ferox_ came hurdling into view.

The beast was almost six meters of rippling black muscles and heavy armor the resembled an armored panther the size of a bus. Scampering towards them it stopped its crashing charge to raise itself up on its front four legs. Sensory quills sprouted up along with the armor plating around its skull and it roared so loud Hamlin felt it rattle his rib cage. His panicked men starting shooting at it perhaps not realizing they did not have the firepower necessary to penetrate the animal's petrous hide. It darted through the empty racks to the other side of the armory and Hamlin could swear he saw a Na'vi on its back.

Shouting at them to stop wasting valuable ammunition a flicker of movement the opposite direction caught Hamlin's eye. His stomach flipped as dozens of Na'vi moved out from behind where they were hidden. They fired a coordinated volley of arrows all at once that came at the confused soldiers in a deadly barrage. Hamlin dodged one of the speeding missiles by sliding to the right and returned fire at the blue targets all around him. They disappeared behind their hiding spots as Hamlin and his soldiers shot back ineffectually.

"Goddammit! Pick your shots!" he shouted as he ran forward to crouch behind a stack of crates. "Defensive positions, keep them pinned down!"

Peeking around the side he saw many cat like eyes watching them and the occasional arrow was loosed too quickly to bother wasting shots on. Trying to come up with a plan on the fly Hamlin felt the ground briefly shaking again as the monster ran by and he remembered the other threat that had to be dealt with. Nothing they had on them would take the beast down and he was only meters from the rack of AMP suits.

"Cover me!" he shouted back and leapt out from behind the crates, shooting wildly to his right as he bolted forward. Gunfire rang out and the unmistakable _twang!_ of bows being shot were secondary to his one goal of getting to the suit. Throwing his gun aside when it stopped firing Hamlin scrambled up the leg of the suit and dropped into the cockpit.

The way the suit was turned meant he wouldn't be taking any arrows in the ear thanks to the machinery in the way. He had a good view of his men huddled down behind pillars and equipment doing what they could do against the ambush they had walked into. Cursing his bad luck at the sight of the men impaled by giant shafts Hamlin would take great pleasure wiping out the Na'vi in the armory before unloading the big guns on the ones likely still in the trees. Then he would turn his attention back to the base and rightfully reclaim it.

Firing up the suit the lights in the cockpit sprang to life and his HUD display began to initialize. Strapping himself in Hamlin engaged the engines and thrust his hands into the piloting gloves. It was not a moment too soon as the ground began to shake again and he knew this time the black monstrosity would be coming in for an attack. Clicking the thumb trigger to engage the suit's locomotion mode he planned on stepped out with the suit and holding up an arm before crashing into the aliens' position.

Nothing happened.

Frantically Hamlin clicked the thumb trigger over and over as the shaking moved from the ground to the large framework his suit was attached to. Something was wrong with the hardware and he was stuck inside of it with no time to find out why. Hamlin was borderline hysterical when he saw the huge form of the Thanator jumping from the rack behind him to the center of his men's formation. There was indeed a slim Na'vi on its back who threw a handful of objects down as the massive creature landed with a reverberating impact. Men cried out and shot at it as the creature bounded away as fast as it had appeared. For such a large creature it moved shockingly fast.

Someone screamed and his men scattered away from their positions. Hamlin looked down and realized the objects the Na'vi rider had dropped were explosives. He was unable to make more than an urgent squawk before they detonated. The blast shook the hanger and Hamlin put up his gloved hands to protect his head. Hot air billowed against his sweating skin and when he blinked through the haze he saw his men being cut down by a stream of arrows. The Na'vi were moving into close quarters and were striking down the disoriented soldiers en masse.

Struggling desperately to get himself out of the suit Hamlin had time to see a Na'vi female spot him and swing her bow expertly his way. "Sonuva-" was all he got out before her razor sharp arrow struck his forehead. Bone gave way to brute force and there was no time for pain to register.

* * *

The gun toting Na'vi quickly secured the former command center previously occupied by the soldiers. Breaking off into two man teams they swept through the surrounding area searching for any enemies left behind. Making a full circle they came up to the three deceased humans laying on the hallway floor surrounded by bullet holes. The one in front nudged Max Patel's body with his foot and the corpse opened one eye. Recognizing the warrior Max sat up.

"The Sky People?" He asked.

"With Eywa." Arashtka replied.

"Coast is clear guys." Max said in English to his fellow dead men. Returning to life they had done a miraculous job convincing the soldiers that they had been gunned down. One of them however was bleeding for real among the numerous bullet holes all around them.

"Ugh, this hurts." The man said. By the looks of it he had taken a slug through the thigh.

"Sit tight. Jerry, you okay?" Max asked.

"I'm fine, I think I may have soiled myself a little though." the third man answered.

"Funny. Get some pressure on that wound and get him moving, we need to start getting people to the Med Wing." Max ordered. Switching to Na'vi he asked, "Arashtka, where is clan leader?"

Lifting a hand to his neck the warrior engaged the comm unit and said, "Arrow Saver, we are safe. Your location, where?"

When they did not receive an immediate reply they exchanged glances and Max motioned him to come along. Jogging back to the command center he found people milling about in shock and some running in random directions. He saw many but not all of the hostages and sucked in a nervous breath before raising his voice.

"Everyone, listen up! We need to get the wounded down to Medical ASAP! Everyone who can walk help get the injured downstairs. Anyone with a security post report to it! We need to clear the base, let's move guys!"

Pausing to listen to him the Na'vi and humans then began to hurriedly carry out his commands. Scanning the crowd for the three people he needed most he found that they were not there. Spotting the lone Na'vi hostage he raced over to help untie him.

"Brother, where is Donnabergstrom?" Max asked.

"She is already ahead." He answered, stretching out his massive limbs.

"We will need you there as well. Please go." Max said and the Na'vi nodded before hefting an injured human to take with him.

"Has anyone seen Jake?" Max shouted but no one had an answer for him. Temporarily abandoning his concern he pitched in to help get a wounded colleague on a makeshift stretcher. Max hoped that hearing him over the intercom would not be the last time he would hear his friend's voice.

* * *

In the armory the warriors gathered around the scene of carnage at the entrance of the tunnel. From atop the huge AMP suit rack the _palulukan makto_ watched the dust settle. Neytiri had little sympathy for the sky people that died but they would be accorded the same funeral rites as any fallen enemy. Directing the massive beast downward it landed near the wreckage and jerked dangerously forward at the bodies. She could feel its intense desire to begin tearing into the fresh meat in front of it as well as its lust for the massed Na'vi flesh around it.

Mentally reprimanding the hulking predator she reminded it who was in charge. She directed it to seek its next meal out in the trees where it belonged, far from the base or the Na'vi camp. It was sullen but happy to be free from the stinking human encampment even if it had to give up a number of easy meals. Jumping down from its sleek back Neytiri disconnected her queue and the beast charged out of the building at full speed. Its rumbling strides grew less and less intense until it was out by the tree line and melted into it.

Sighing she turned back to her people. Some were helping the few casualties they'd taken get emergency first aid right there on the concrete floor. Others were checking the humans for survivors but most were looking to her for leadership.

"Get the hurt inside. Our brother will be waiting for us." She said. "The rest of you, gather the dead. Prepare them for burial."

Looking up at a loathsome human in the metal suit with an arrow coming out of him she added, "All of them."

The comm unit around her neck had let her listen in on Arashtka questioning Jake for his whereabouts. That he didn't answer bothered her greatly but she assumed it was a simple flaw with the machinery or some other unknown, perfectly innocent reason. He would not have been harmed in a simple battle such as this one. Too much had happened in the past that could have claimed his life that didn't for Jake to die here. It simply wasn't possible.

Leaving her people to their tasks she began to walk into the long tunnel that lead back to the base. She didn't have one of the breathing masks she would need for an extended stay at the base but she would not be there long. One of the humans there would tell her where Jake was for better or worse. Neytiri trudged forward.


	12. Chapter 12

The medical wing was built to service a fully operational base including combat casualties and as such had much more space then the Pandorans would likely ever use. The one thing that was in short supply was experienced medical personnel and Max Patel had done everything he could in the past to up the number specifically for a situation like the one they were in. While many of the original base staff had gone through basic first aid training none had started on the comprehensive medical corps program available courtesy of the RDA's exhaustive databanks. Despite being edited specifically for Pandora's environment and various mega fauna the humans simply had other things to do. Max resolved to make at least half of St. Augustine's residents, new and old, to begin enrolling immediately if they made it out of this particular debacle.

Directing traffic in the just inside the wing's entrance was the short tempered Dr. Bergstrom. She was barking orders and moving at a thousand miles per hour. Max braced himself as he approached.

"Get his legs up. No, up, you idiot! You, get me a compact. You don't- that thing there! Jesus!" she was saying.

"Donna, got another one!" Max said as he and two others carried a wounded man in on a stretcher made hastily of sheets.

"Fantastic. Is he stable?" she asked without so much as looking in his direction.

"I think."

"Get him into the main room and find a bed. Oa'no is handling triage, I want a prelim on that man in the next two minutes, go." She said before moving on to another problem. Bringing the injured man into a chaotic central room with rows of medical beds they had to push past crowds of people and Na'vi to get to an empty mattress. More or less in the center of the room was the former prisoner and medical trainee Oa'no swiftly examining the injured.

"Brother!" Max waved at him. The tall Na'vi looked up only to nod in his direction and return to his task. Getting their charge comfortable Max said, "Rest easy, they're gonna take care of you."

Scouring the room for any sign of Jake he did not see the _olo'eyktan_ among the crowd. He was about to leave to try tracking him down when a female voice called from behind him, "Max!"

He turned to find Claire Rouga pushing through to get to him. "Claire! Where have you been?"

"No time. Norm's coming down and he's in bad shape. Don's avatar too."

Max tried to wrap his head around what he had just heard but decided it was best left for some other time. Spotting Bergstrom again he barged through to get to her with Claire.

"No dammit, tighter!" she was yelling at one of the newcomers.

"Donna. Donna. Donna!"

"What!"

"Norm's coming in. He's critical."

This time she actually turned to face him with a blank stare."Oh."

"An avatar body too, they both need immediate care."

"An avatar?" she asked incredulously. "I don't give a _shit_ about one of those, I have real people to worry about. What are Norm's wounds?"

"Bullet, blood loss." Claire answered for him.

"Get him to Emergency Surgery, you two, start up the machines, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"We don't know-"

"Figure it out! You're wasting time!" she snapped and turned away from them.

* * *

Moving through the base Neytiri thought that by now she would have run into someone who knew where Jake was. Standing in the former command center of the enemy sky people she saw the evidence of their brief occupation. There was blood on the floor, foul smelling food and garbage, always garbage. She often wondered how such a slovenly people managed to dominate their home planet without being hunted to extinction.

There was no sign of him here and no one she stopped had seen him. One of the base's sky people told her she could find Max and many of the other humans in the healing area. Thanking him she moved slowly in that general direction. Na'vi and sky people scurried by her in fast motion while she was in no hurry to reach her destination. Even breathing the strange tasting air that would eventually cause mild side effects she did not cause her to rush.

Though Neytiri was not extremely familiar with the floors and pathways of the labyrinthine habitat it was not difficult to find her way. She merely followed the packs of hurried humanoids large and small going the same direction. Letting herself be pushed along in the current she came to the confusing and disorganized place she sought. There were humans and Na'vi both wounded and the ones trying to help them. While there were many male warriors she did not mix any of them up with Jake. She knew every bead woven into his hair, every scar along his torso and the contour of his shoulders as if they were her own. Humans might have had difficulty finding an individual among a crowd but she could spot her dearest mate in a sea of his brothers.

Circling the cold, unfeeling rooms the sky people seemed to love trapping themselves in she kept her auric eyes on the lookout for the humans she knew best. Making her way deeper into the area she left the bustling entryway behind. Despite the ambient sound her ears picked up a familiar voice coming from nearby. Jogging slightly forward she strained to hear where it was coming from.

Halting in front of a medium sized chamber with the see through hard ice common in human dwellings and machines she found a few of them gathered around a white bed. She was shocked to see Norm Spellman laid out on it with a breathing mask on his face and eyes closed. Hovering around him were the red haired healer woman and another man she did not recognize. Standing nearby were some of the people she had been looking for, Max Patel, a dreamwalker named Tess and two more humans she did not know.

They were speaking in low voices as they watched what was going on anxiously. They hadn't noticed her yet and she was going to wave at Max when something just past the small group caught her eye. It was a sight she never wanted to even imagine but it was in front of her anyway. On a huge bed was a Na'vi body with a sheet covering it almost entirely. Two large blood spots had spread from underneath to soak the fabric and the chest wasn't moving. Forcing her shaking body to get a better view she saw the left hand of the corpse not completely obscured by the sheet. There were five fingers attached to a limb that would never move again.

Spinning away from the sight Neytiri tried to walk but stumbled and fell to her knees with hot tears blurring her vision. Attempting to crawl away from that horrid place she made it to the other side of the wall and simply curled up on the floor crying her eyes out. There was no justice in the world for this to have happened to her twice. She was back in the smoke and fire of her home's destruction facing her father's death all over again. That experience had done nothing to prepare her for this trauma and if anything it was worse the second time.

All of the plans they had and names she thought of for their children came rushing into her head. She wailed in that suffocating coffin of a building built by the people that had taken almost everything she had ever loved. First her home, then her father and many of her friends, her _ikran_ and now this. There would be no going back to the way things were and she could see herself never coming near another human again unless it was to kill one.

A soft hand touched her arm and she batted it away but it persisted. Blinking through bleary eyes she made out the concerned face of Max Patel standing over her. "Neytiri! What's wrong?"

"He's gone...he's gone..." was all she could think to say and started crying anew.

"Who? Who's gone?" Max asked as if he had no idea what she was talking about. Pointing at the room she felt sick to her stomach. Worse she knew these were just the overtures of grief and much time would have to pass until she could think of anything else.

Max started to say something but he was cut off by the sound of someone running down the hall at breakneck speed. The thuds were Na'vi to be sure and somewhat familiar in gait but she couldn't be bothered to listen closely. Leaving her Max jumped out into the hall and immediately threw his hands up.

"Jake! Stop!" he said. The sound of his name exploded across her mind like a new sun being born. All of her heartache fell away and she hoped more than anything that this was no cruel joke. The steps were only seconds away but it felt like an eternity as she waited for an impossibility.

Skidding around the corner in front of them was a Na'vi holding an arm full of boxes and red bags. Looking up at Jake from her position on the floor Neytiri could hardly breathe. He looked stunned to see her but then shifted to a disbelieving smile full of relief. She had never seen anything so marvelous in her entire life.

"Give me those." Max said and took the objects from him. Scampering away he added, "Deal with her."

Scrambling to her feet and wiping the tears from her face she looked over into the room where the Na'vi body was still laid out with the sheet over it. Turning back to confirm Jake was real her chest nearly seized up with overflowing emotion.

"Hey." he said and she lunged forward. Wrapping her arms around his waist she drove him to the floor and squeezed so hard her arms hurt.

"Ugh…breathing…hard…chest…" he gurgled and she let him go only to see his face. Weeping with a wide smile her tears fell on his face and he finally understood something had occurred other than just their reunion.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

Laughing she laid her head down on his shoulder Neytiri closed her eyes and was comforted by the sound of his heart beat. "Oh Jake…"

"What happened?"

"I thought you…the bed, shot…"

"Oh no-"

"And you didn't answer your rai-dio."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry. I'm fine, really. It was just a mistake."

"Then who?"

"It was another dreamwalker. His dreaming body was shot up, didn't make it. You thought that was me?"

Pushing herself up to look down on him with her hands on either side of his head Jake gazed up with a weary sadness. Parting her hanging braids he wiped the tears from her face and did his best to lighten the mood. "They'd need an army to stop me from seeing you again. They only brought a company at best."

"Why did you not answer your rai-dio?"

"Oh. I had to throw it away for a minute. I was kind of in a hurry, I must have forgotten to pick it back up."

Winding back she slapped him hard across the face. His eyes went almost as wide as when she had pushed him into his flying machine earlier that day. "_Never_ do that to me again." She warned.

"Damn" he said, rubbing his cheek. "There goes the taste out of my mouth. I guess I deserved that."

Lowering herself Neytiri kissed him on the very spot she had struck and somehow had her mouth locked on his at nearly the same instant. It was good to be alive and in the moment they were sharing after just minutes ago she was ready for the end of the world. This would be a memory she would cherish for the rest of her life.

Separating from her for some air Jake said, "Can we get off the floor? This is really uncomfortable and I think you broke my spleen tackling me."

Reluctantly allowing him to get up she stubbornly clung to his midsection. He ran his five fingers through her hair and she slowly remembered the rest of reality.

"Will Norm be okay?" she asked.

"Hope so. Donna's a damn good doctor. We'll just have to wait and see."

Tilting her head up to his face she said, "I was so sad Jake."

"I know sweetness." He said and kissed her on the forehead. "When we sort everything out here we'll go away for a little while, just you and me. I promise."

* * *

Darkness was all consuming. There was no light, no sound, no feeling, no escape. Gradually the impermeable gloom lifted ever so slightly and gave way to something else. An annoying hum pierced the murk followed by an ache that renewed itself over and over. Light burst in painfully and was almost too much to bear. Slowly it receded from a burning phosphorus to a modest set of cheap halogen lights scattered around a dreary room.

Many minutes passed before he became self aware again. Alberon realized the annoying sound that had broken through his sleep was a heart monitor tirelessly confirming his continued existence. Memories came flooding back to him and he remembered a shouting match and a heavy blow to the back of his head. When his legs buckled and he dropped he was already so far gone that it felt like another man's body falling down on the star ship's floor.

Bandages had been wrapped around his head like a he was trying to pull off a Halloween costume. Alberon lifted an arm that hadn't moved in a million years up to his forehead. The skin was cold and clammy but he felt his strong heart beat in his chest. His whole body hurt and he didn't mind this so much. It meant he was still alive.

Flicking his eyes around the tiny room the captain realized he was no longer on the _Centurion_. Major Hamlin must have succeeded in his hair-brained scheme to some degree. The only question remained was why he had been kept alive at all. While he did not feel he had the strength to move he certainly would demand his freedom. He began pulling leads off his arms and tugged the heart monitor off his finger. Machines started to go haywire around him and it was not long before a young woman in a lab coat barged into the room.

"Mr. Alberon!" she exclaimed.

"I'm okay." He croaked. He didn't recognize this person as one of the _Centurion_'s crew or passengers and he knew all of them by name and face. "I just wanted to see someone."

"Well you scared me half to death! Why would you take off your monitors? There's a call button on your bed!" she scolded him.

"Oh. So there is. How uh…how long…"

"Have you been out? Four days."

"My ship…?"

"Easy captain, your crew is okay. Most of them anyway."

She filled him in on the some of the details of the harrowing experience they had all lived through. Things played out almost exactly as Alberon had tried to tell the major they would. The only difference was the number of casualties he'd been expecting on both sides.

"I didn't catch your name."

"Dr. Donna Bergstrom. You can call me ma'am."

"You're a bit under the typical age for me to be calling you ma'am." Alberon observed.

"Careful captain, doesn't matter hold old I am, I'm the one with the catheter."

"I see. I suppose I have you to thank for being alive and well, ma'am." He smiled weakly.

"Me and a few others. We've gone through a lot of pain killers the last four days. Oa'no gathered some naturally occurring sedatives to help you sleep."

"And that is who?"

"My right hand man. He's something of a Na'vi healer."

"Interesting."

"And your friend Mr. Nguyen has been here every day keeping you company. Oa'no set his arm when they arrived and an hour later he was pestering me for updates on you."

"He worries too much. Can I talk to him?"

"I'll let everyone know you're awake. You've been in a coma you know? We weren't sure if you were coming out."

"Nice to know people cared I suppose."

"You still need rest and no excitement. I'll allow visitors when I think you've recovered enough."

Alberon slept in fitful intervals but was well cared for by the professional if slightly cantankerous Bergstrom. He woke to the sight of her and quiet Na'vi with a breathing mask looking down at medical print outs. The human doctor next to him was chattering away in the alien tongue and her assistant seemed to be listening intently. When they noticed he was awake Bergstrom said, "Welcome back. Oa'no, your patient is conscious."

She held out her hand in the air in Alberon's general direction. The blue giant loomed over the tiny bed and put a massive blue hand on the captain's forehead. It was rough and highly calloused but used surprisingly gentle pressure.

"How you feel?" the Na'vi asked in halting English.

"Like crap. I want to get out of this bed though."

The Na'vi turned to Bergstrom who provided what he assumed was the translation. The large humanoid shook his head vigorously. "You stay." He said and touched the back of his skull where his long braid sprouted from. "Her-rre br-r-r-oken."

He put his hands out in front of him and interlocked his fingers together. "This you." He said and pulled his hands apart until there was a few centimeters between them. "We wr-r-rap head, do this." He explained and moved his hands slowly together until the tips of his fingers touched against each other.

"With time, gr-r-ow back like this." He said and slowly locked his fingers together again. While he had difficulty with the language Alberon was impressed by his ability to visualize the healing process and explain it to a layman.

Together Bergstrom and Oa'no took his pulse. Alberon was amazed that the hands capable of crushing his skull could have such a soft touch. They ran a couple more basic tests and the captain had the feeling he was a test subject.

"Am I being studied like a rat in a lab?" he asked.

"Something like that." Bergstrom grinned. "Don't worry, you've been a great help to his growth. Nothing substitutes for experience I'm afraid. It's a good thing Oa'no is a fast learner.

"Much I still I learn." The Na'vi agreed.

"His English is terrible though. He should thank his lucky stars I studied Na'vi for four years because I like to be prepared."

"What is 'lucky starrrs'?"

"Pay attention to his vitals big boy. Learn English on someone else's time." Bergstrom chided. The blue giant's ears flicked back and forth irritably and the doctor added, "Don't you give me that sass. I have a needle with a thousand milligrams of knock-you-the-hell-out in my pocket just in case you piss me off."

Alberon had to chuckle at the odd pair and wouldn't have been surprised if the doctor really did have the object she threatened to use. After being poked and probed another twenty minutes his caretakers excused themselves. Minutes later an ecstatic Lieutenant Nguyen came through the door with his left arm in a sling.

"Captain!"

"Martin." Alberon did his best to nod.

"Thank the gods you're okay."

"How's everyone else?"

"More or less fine. Some bumps and scrapes but no fatalities and the _Centurion_'s still in one piece."

"What's the situation topside?"

"They didn't tell you?"

"They just said every thing's okay."

"The mutineers left about ten of their number in the aft to watch the rest of the crew. They had guns – guns! – on us. On an ISV, I can't imagine how incredibly stupid that is, the stress fractures-"

"Focus, Martin."

"Oh right, anyway, 'Shana got loose and cracked two of them on the dome with a damn wrench the size of your arm. After freeing some engineers they rolled over the rest of the bums. They put 'em in cyro the second they could."

"Dang."

"I know. I wish I could have seen her get to work on those pricks but I'm sure she'll be telling us about it forever."

Alberon attempted a half smile. "How did Sully take the whole thing? We getting kicked off the planet soon?"

"Oh he was pretty pissed for a while. Hamlin killed a couple of his base sentries and shot up a bunch more than that. I'd say they got theirs though."

"Wiped out?"

"Almost to the man. The only ones still breathing were a squad captured before the base fell."

"So he's understanding that it wasn't our intention?"

"Well he was yelling at someone in the other room about it when I was passing by and that wife of his pulled him aside and was chewing him out. He cooled off a bit after that."

"I imagine he'll be here eventually."

"I'd say so. I'll send Brian in if you're feeling up to it. Dunno if I'll be back, that doctor is a whip cracker."

Alberon received a line of well wishers including some of the civilians he had brought down barely a week ago. It seemed people that he'd never properly met stopped by to see him or ones he never met before at all. It was his last visitor for the day that he had been waiting to see the most. Jake Sully entered the room and sat on the floor still managing to be taller than the bed ridden Alberon. He was uncharacteristically unarmed save the knife across his chest that seemed to have a permanent residence there.

"_Olo'eyktan_."

"Captain."

"We kind of got off on the wrong foot didn't we? Us Earthlings I mean."

"Was partly my fault." Sully admitted. "Everything was going so well I got lax about security. I've had some time to think it over and I don't think this incident should affect future ISVs. You're not the kind of man to give an order like that and I don't expect other captains would either."

"Hamlin did."

"True, but we'll be more careful next time. I might make mistakes but I learn from them."

Alberon mulled this over. He too had plenty of time to think confined to his bed. Sully was a capable leader but he would need every advantage he could get. The Pandorans – all of them – did not deserve to suffer men like Hamlin after receiving the crew of his ISV in good faith. There was also the small matter of Alberon's life being saved by the combined efforts and bravery of both races.

"You're thinking again Captain." Sully interrupted his musings.

"It's a hard habit to break." Alberon brooded. "Do you think you're a good man Jake Sully?"

The question caught the Na'vi hero off guard. "I uh…I think so. I've had my doubts to be honest. But when I see my people happy, when I see them live without fear I know I've made the right choices."

"Mmm. That's good. A leader should always keep the well being of his men in mind."

"The Na'vi say to treat the land well because it isn't borrowed from your parents or your ancestors, it's borrowed from your children."

"That so? I could swear I've heard that somewhere before. I don't really see you as the philosophical type though."

"Live in the woods for a while, hook up your nervous system to a wild animal and tell me if it doesn't make you think a little more about things."

"Fair enough."

"Why do you ask?"

"I was fairly sure but I just wanted to read your face and get a better idea of what kind of person you are. I'm convinced you're a man of your word."

"Okay. That's good."

"I'd like to give you all of the hardware the _Centurion_ is carrying down to the last rivet and screw, the mining equipment, the gunships, AMPs, everything."

"What?"

"Where I come from you don't turn your back on the people that saved your life and that of your crew. I was originally concerned you'd be using the guns on people to get back at them but I can see now that you're all about self defense. If the RDA sends an invasion force or has another mishap like Hamlin, you have my blessing to shove a rocket up their asses."

"Wow. I didn't see that coming." Sully conceded. "Are you sure? They'll court martial you for this."

"Frankly, I don't give a damn." Alberon said truthfully. "I'll have given up almost twenty five years for these little sorties when I get back. A man doesn't like to know he's spent all that time away from home working for some My Lai sons of bitches."

"My Lie?"

"Goddamn kids. Go learn your history son. Look up the name Hugh Thompson, Jr. in your fancy infolinks if you want to know about a real soldier."

Grinning wide Sully nodded graciously and said, "Yes sir."

"I wouldn't worry about me, Sully. They won't be able to prove anything and even if they did, I'll be telling everyone who will listen what kind of operation they're running. They'll probably be too busy trying to kill me to worry about a court martial."

Chuckling to himself the avatar driver shook his head in disbelief. "You're crazy."

"Nah, just a pissed off old man. Nothin's worse."

"Heh. They don't make 'em like they used to I guess."

"Oh, I'd also like to get you our spec updates and software downloads. Should help in the future."

"Ah..."

"What?"

"Well...if we're being perfectly honest with each other Captain...that won't be entirely necessary."

"Why not?"

"We sort of...already have the specs." Sully grimaced.

"Huh? How's that possible?"

"We didn't know if you'd be friendly or not but we needed the info to stay up to speed. So...some of my guys volunteered to hack into your ship's databanks."

"Really."

"Wasn't hard, apparently. I don't think the RDA ever expected there to be a need for heavy encryption around here."

"Well I'll be damned." Alberon laughed.

"Sorry. I wasn't going to mention it unless it came up."

"How did you pull that off?"

"I don't know the details, something about sending a message with a virus on it that looks like another message and instead copies files to be sent back on the reply. It was really confusing when my computer guy Stan tried to explain it to me. I didn't understand half of what he was saying."

"Try talking to an engineer about anti-matter engines. I swear he makes up half the words."

Sully laughed and Alberon found himself laughing along with him. He was at ease for the first time since emerging from cyrostasis and entering the Pandoran system. There would be a storm waiting for him back on Earth but for the moment he would enjoy his brief vacation.

"Don't suppose I could convince you to stay?" Sully said.

"Ah well...I've got to get home and raise some hell. Besides, my boys will be about forty by the time I get back. Gotta make sure they're in line you know?"

"I understand. I should let you rest, Donna will chase me out with a broom if I'm in here too long."

"Probably would. One thing though."

"Yes?"

"And feel free not to explain but I was wondered how you managed to take this base back without losing everyone you know. From what I heard Hamlin had you in a tight spot."

"He did. I had some help though from a friend coming up with a pretty sneaky plan."

"Which was?"

"Oh you don't want to hear about that, it's nothing special."

Leaning back in his bed Alberon got comfortable. "I have all day. Try me."

Shrugging Sully said, "Well, if you insist..."


	13. Chapter 13

Ordering his squads to hit the two outermost barricades first Jake knew from McCarthy's intel there would be another ring of fortifications before the heavily defended command center. It would be a tricky situation trying to get into that area without taking heavy losses not to mention the possible death of every hostage Hamlin had. First Jake would back them into a corner by destroying their perimeter defenses and surrounding the command center. From there he could starve them out if he had to.

It wasn't the best plan ever but he would not give up another inch of Pandora to the aggressors. All of hostile soldiers wanted to live as badly as Jake wanted his friends to. If he turned the command center into a prison with no hope of supplies and no options he was confident even the most bloodthirsty Spec Op would choose to negotiate. While he wanted a peaceful resolution more than anything he had to think of the Na'vi first. Agreeing to Hamlin's demands would only lead to more deaths for both sides.

When the explosions were triggered he rushed along with his warriors deeper into the base. Splitting off from them he went his own way towards one of the checkpoints. The remaining three would be attacked by the others at the same time once everyone was in position. If his good luck continued the soldiers at his checkpoint would abandon their post once the other three areas saw action. Jake hoped there would only empty halls between him and access to a cache of emergency medical supplies he would need to save Norm's life. While he personally knew many more Na'vi and human there were only a few that he counted among his closest friends. Each of them faced different amounts of danger but Norm needed his help more than the rest. Jake was determined to keep at least one of those lives safe.

Slipping through the halls he slowed as he came to the intersection just before his target. There would be no element of surprise this time and Jake hoped he'd brought enough bullets if he was about to start a firefight. Besides the heavy bow and arrows in his hands he carried only two quick reload clips for his 30mm revolvers. This left him twenty four shots plus arrows to use to break through the barrier if it would be manned. Quietly giving the order to attack he waited a long, gunfire filled minute before silently approaching the corner of the hall. Sticking the end of his spiked bow out beyond the edge for just a second he pulled it back before a hail of bullets tore up the area.

There was no cover between the hall and the barricade which was the advantage of such a defensive position. A frontal assault would be nothing short of suicide and Jake did not have the luxury of shooting blindly hoping to get lucky. Retreating away from the death trap he scampered back down the hall he had come looking for a solution. Heading into one of the rooms Jake searched for something to aid him. There was not much to see except a couple of beds and more of the damn plant experiments the people at St. Augustine loved to do. Cursing himself for not having the foresight to install a supply of grenades in every room Jake considered doubling back to avoid the barricade. As he left in search of a better way he noticed the doors to the room were thick, wide and would just perhaps be able to cover his Na'vi frame.

Setting down his bow and arrows Jake locked the doors in place and began to kick them with everything he had. The soles of his feet had grown tremendously calloused over the last year and with his inhuman strength he was able to break one of the doors off its hinges. Bringing it back to the intersection Jake stuck it out around the corner where it was immediately blasted by the soldiers. Pulling it back he examined the end which had only a few dents in it from direct hits.

"Damn. Sturdy." He said aloud and wondered if the base had been built specifically with an indoor combat scenario in mind. Getting a solid grip on the door's handle as his life would depend on it Jake reduced his bulk by moving on his knees and kept the slab of steel sliding along the floor to avoid any shots skipping under at his legs. Taking a good breath he started to scoot sideways into uncertain territory.

The bullets rang out immediately and he almost lost his grip from the beating the door was taking. Bracing it with both hands against the near constant impacts Jake heard the click of an empty clip seconds into the attack. Grinning he edged slowly forward despite the violent vibrations running down his arms. He estimated that they were unloading hundreds of rounds a minute at him which was just fine with the Na'vi chieftain as long as his improvised shield held out.

The intense onslaught began to lessen with every half step he took and Jake counted at least seven reloads while he moved ahead. When the first break in the assault came he pulled a revolver and fired a shot ahead of him. The sound of humans diving for cover was music to his ears and he squeezed off another round before risking a peek around door. There were at least four of them crouched behind the sandbags with their heads just barely coming up over the top. Picking a spot where a soldier was cowering Jake aimed for the bags where his body would be instead of trying to snipe him. One hand was barely enough to handle the vicious recoil of the revolver but he fired anyway. The round penetrated the thick defenses and a scream went up in front of him followed by a number of shocked profanities.

Pulling his limbs back in Jake weathered another furious but ineffective assault. When it stopped he switched hands and fired another blind shot. "Plenty more where that came from boys!" he yelled at them.

The soldiers lit up his shield and Jake was forced to use both hands to keep it from slipping. He heard boots moving away even as they continued to pepper him with rounds until the firing ceased completely. Shooting the second to last bullet in his right revolver he popped his head up for a quick look before getting back behind the door. The barricade had been deserted but Jake didn't drop his protection just yet. Standing up he carried it in front of him until he was against the sand bags.

Darting his head out he saw the barricade truly empty of capable enemies. The three soldiers had left their injured comrade who had taken the slug through the torso. He was mortally wounded but still breathing and was in too much pain to do anything. Setting down the door Jake stepped over the bags and checked the next intersection for any remaining foes. It seemed they had retreated back to the central area just like he had hoped. Putting away his weapon he returned to the soldier he had shot. Here in front of him was the problem with desensitizing one's self to the horrors of war and demonizing your enemies. Despite everything these men did they were still living, breathing people. Jake had learned this lesson all too well since making this planet his home so very far from where he was born.

The massive round has only struck a glancing blow but it was enough to open a grievous wound in the soldier's upper body. Each of his breaths were ragged and obviously agonizing. Jake knelt down to his side and checked his weakening pulse.

"Am…I going to die?" he managed to get out.

"Yes you are." Jake said regretfully.

"You're…..uuuungh….him aren't you? Sully…"

"I am."

"I'm…I'm sorry about shooting your friends."

Reaching down the _olo'eyktan_ rested his hand on the man's forearm. "It's all right. We're even now."

"This…hurts. It hurts really bad. Please don't let me go out like this."

Disgusted with the entire incident that led to this moment Jake retrieved the man's sidearm. It was a toy in his giant hands but the revolver would make an undignified mess of what he was trying to do.

"What's your name soldier?"

"Fuh…Frank."

"Hold onto my arm Frank." Jake said and put a huge hand over the man's eyes. Trembling fingers grasped the _olo'eyktan_ skin as he aimed the pistol. "You won't feel a thing."

"Thanks…" the man mumbled before the single shot echoed off the base's walls. Sighing deeply Jake put the man's arms on his chest and resumed his task with grim determination. There would be time to properly honor the dead but it was not now.

Letting his gun lead the way Jake tore through the base and burst into a former infolink access room. Piled high with the medical supplies the _Centurion_ was kind enough to bring to their doorstep Jake starting searching through the boxes. Throwing aside one after the other he found the item he was looking for five stacks in. Ripping open the packaging he quickly exited the room with a handful of fast acting coagulant used to stop blood loss from a severed limb. It was a dull gray paste that Jake had personally put to use in the jungles of Venezuela.

Working his way to the link room the _olo'eyktan_ sprinted the last remaining meters and charged into the room. Sweeping the muzzle of his revolver around he found himself alone. "Norm." he whispered.

"Over here!" he heard Claire answer. Taking a few giant strides across the room he saw where Norm was propped up against a desk. Claire looked haggard and as worried as Jake felt. He thrust the gray matter in her direction and said, "Pack this stuff into the wound. Your fingers are smaller." Turning to his friend he said, "This might hurt a little bit buddy."

"Okay.." Norm rasped. "Jake...what's your plan?"

"Get them surrounded. We can starve them out yeah?"

"No, that's stupid..."

Claire pushed the clay like coagulant into Norm's leg who didn't so much as flinch. "I've got a better idea...get to the Systems Control room and get on the PA."

"What for?"

Outlining a simple but devious plan as quickly as he could Norm proved again why he was one of Jake's most valuable assets. He had to grin at the audacity of the plan that was matched only by its danger.

"That's frigging awesome Norm."

"Yeah, go make it happen." He said and closed his eyes.

"As soon as we're in the clear I need you to find Donna Bergstrom." Jake instructed Claire. "Get her to prep the medical wing for him. I'm gonna go do this thing."

"What about Don and Tess?" She reminded him. Jake had forgotten about them already and didn't have time to check on their situation.

"I'll send a team up to the roof, just hurry okay?"

Back on the run Jake made tracks for the closest way to the next floor. As he moved he whispered instructions to his forces both inside and outside the base. Leaping up stairs he bounded into the area where much of the base's communication equipment was set up. Pushing a tiny chair out of his way Jake searched for and engaged the speaker system that would project his voice to every corner of St. Augustine. Pulling the microphone up and turning it on he was instantly rewarded with savage feedback that cut into his ears. It took him a couple of seconds to realize his neck unit and its proximity was the source of the disturbance. Tearing it off he threw it far away from the microphone and shook the ringing out of his ears before speaking.

He gave a true goodbye speech to both the soldiers and his friends. There was no guaranteeing their safety and if he never saw them again he would at least make sure he had the chance to saw goodbye. After saying what he needed to say he started the plan. Taking Norm's gamble he then changed over to Na'vi to issue instructions to everyone who could speak it. It was a very calculated risk that none of the soldiers present would have spent the arduous hours required to master the language. Everything would fall apart if one did but it was a chance Jake had to seize. "Listen, everyone. I want you to pretend you're being shot when Arashtka and the others come. You must howl like beasts, your lives depend on it. Tell them this is a prayer."

He repeated the message once and hoped enough Na'vi speakers had heard it and were acting accordingly. Rushing out of the room and back downstairs Jake literally ran into two Spec Ops going the opposite direction at top speed. The three of them staggered back before regarding each other and pondering this new development. Jake's guns were in their holsters and the soldiers had theirs pointed at the ground front the jarring impact. They were mere centimeters from each other and Jake quickly determined that they would get their guns to him first if he went for his.

"All right, let's just calm down here." He suggested. "You're surrounded. The rest of your unit is headed into an ambush. Put your weapons down and you'll be deported instead of buried." The two soldiers tensely made eye contact with each other and struggled to keep their weapons down instead of trying to get some shots off. Jake's hand twitched in preparation for an attack if they made any sudden movements.

"The guy on the PA just said we're all dead." One of them spoke up while keep a very close eye on Jake.

"Idiot, that was me. It was a ruse and I'm still in command. About twelve of your friends are upstairs under watch but still alive. You can surrender and join them or my warriors can wipe you out."

"He's trying to save his own ass." The other soldier said.

"I'm trying to save your asses. You think you can drop me at this range before I get to you? You're gonna need a pair of Mozam Drills to stop me and you're not going to get them."

One of the soldier's guns moved up ever so slightly and Jake nearly jumped at them. "Hey, hey, cool it, be cool, let's all just be real co-"

The second soldier's gun came up and Jake exploded into action. Each of his hands pushed the rifles wide and they fired while they were still in motion. The bullets clanged off the walls around them before Jake got a solid grip on the barrels of the weapons. Yanking the rifles away from the soldiers Jake sent them skipping harmlessly down the hall. The men went for their side arms and Jake's long reach easily beat them to the hand guns. Pulling the second soldier's strap completely off his leg the _olo'eyktan_ easily overpowered the first who had managed to get a hand on his. Throwing the weapons away Jake didn't expect the second solider to step forward and attack. Planting his feet the man launched a solid uppercut to Jake's loincloth.

Doubling over with his face twisted in sudden pain Jake grasped at the humans but they were already moving out of the way. The one who had scored the low blow pulled back for a heavy hay maker to Jake's face now that it was low enough to the ground to assault. He struck hard near the temple where the OX pack ended but either did not know or had forgotten about the reinforced skeletal structure of a Na'vi adult. Connecting with Jake's orbital socket made a loud crack and the soldier bellowed in pain likely from a broken hand.

Recovering enough to counter attack Jake knocked the soldier off his feet with a straight left. The Na'vi warrior felt something move on his leg and out of the corner of his eye he saw the first soldier using both hands to aim one of the gigantic revolvers at its owner. Dropping unceremoniously to the floor just before it went off Jake managed to make the slug miss but the gun itself didn't. Unable to control its recoil the revolver snapped back on the solider and smashed into his face.

Not giving him a moment's rest the remaining soldier jumped onto Jake's back. It took him only a second to get his arms and legs woven together under the large OX pack but the reason for the strange maneuver wasn't clear until they were in place. Using his entire body to constrict the large neck he clung onto the soldier crushed down and cut off Jake's air supply. Annoyed by the man's dogged tenacity Jake was spurred on by the time he was wasting here and the sudden lack of oxygen. Forcing himself to his full height with the extra hundred kilos hanging on the _olo'eyktan_ threw himself backwards to the floor as hard as he could. Squashing the soldier between the unforgiving floor and his weight the grip on Jake's neck went slack.

Rolling over he stood up and shook the light headed feeling away. Both opponents were unconscious and Jake almost wished he was. His face had a fist sized bruise growing and his lower abdomen was still trying to undo the lingering effects of the cheap shot but he had to keep moving. Putting his gun back where it belonged he collected both of the soldiers who were incapacitated at the moment but would recover far too quickly. Dragging them both along the floor he knew it would be faster to simply kill the both of them but the conversation from earlier was still fresh in his mind. Taking the two of them some twenty meters Jake came to a base guard locker room. Standing them up Jake stuffed the men into the confined space of the lockers and shoved a heavy bench in front of the doors.

Getting back to the task at hand Jake dropped the empty casings out of his right revolver and reloaded as he headed towards the command center. He was jogging at a moderate pace when one of the Pandoran human crossed in front of him on a perpendicular path.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"Jake!" the man said as he stopped. "Thank God!"

"What happened Terry?"

"They left us to die and went to the Armory. Max is getting everyone downstairs."

"We have any wounded?"

"Yeah. A bunch."

"All right, go help Max, I'll be down in a bit."

Satisfied things had at least somewhat gone according to plan Jake lifted his hand to his neck to issue orders and realized he didn't have his comm unit anymore. Trusting his subordinates to take care of securing the base he raced back to the link room. Leaping over the dais he frightened Claire with the sudden crashing sound as he landed near her and Norm.

"You scared me!" she blurted out.

"Get downstairs and get the machines on, quick!" Jake ordered her.

"Okay..." she said and got up to leave. "No more bad guys right?"

"No, now go!" he urged and she took if in a sprint. Kneeling down to Norm the Na'vi warrior shook him gently. The scientist reluctantly opened his eyes and looked around. "C'mon Norm, time to go. Donna's going to take care of you."

"I'm cold." Norm whispered. "That's bad isn't it?"

Getting his arms under him to support Norm's spine Jake lifted him carefully off the ground. He hoped the coagulant had been applied soon enough and that his doctor would have enough time to work. Carrying his friend out of the room as fast and as safely as he could Jake would later realize he had indeed set foot in the link room he thought he would never return to again. This time he was not worried about his own life but the lives of everyone around him.

* * *

"Hmph." Alberon grunted. "That sounded like it was a sloppy operation soldier."

"Yeah, well it worked." Jake shrugged. "Never a dull day here on Pandora."

"Did you friend make it?"

"He did." Jake nodded. "It was touch and go for a while but Donna was able to give him a successful transfusion. He's eating solids now, should recover just fine."

"That's good." Alberon said. "For a techie I actually kind of liked the guy."

"He's tolerable." Jake smiled.

"One thing about this situation keeps bothering me though."

"What's that?"

"That was a small force by RDA standards. True they had the surprise factor but they took your base rather easily. If a full invasion-class detachment was sent I think they would do more than take hostages. Especially since you only have four AA batteries easily knocked out by a long range salvo."

"Nothing we can really do about that." Jake said.

"Welll..." Alberon started. "I don't suppose you know anything about the ops north of Jakarta back in '18?"

"2118? I wasn't born yet sir."

"Oh. I guess not. I'm old. Anyway, I was in the USAF those days running sorties over the jungle. Some of the locals had rigged up mobile SAM sites on the back of freighters. They'd take a couple shots through a smokescreen and then move before the air squads could turn around."

"Really..."

"What kind of trucks do you have laying around here?" Alberon asked with a scheming gleam in his eye.

* * *

Sitting in the avatar prep room where they had first woken up in their new bodies Claire, Don and Tess in her larger form sat chatting. Unbeknownst to the other two of them Tess had actually taken a slug in her shoulder from one of the soldiers they had beaten down on the base's roof. The tough driver had refused to bother seeking medical attention until Don's avatar had been brought downstairs but it had been too late to save the exorbitantly expensive body.

It had been a tricky surgery to remove the tiny bit of metal from Tess' shoulder. The three of them watched from above when Max, Donna and Oa'no carefully cut open the wound to get to the bullet. Claire thought it would be a simple thing to do but unlike the movies a gunshot wound anywhere was a big deal. They had to be careful to avoid nerves or they would risk permanent damage to the limb.

She and Don did their best to keep Tess company during her mandatory time in her avatar body. Her arm had been healing well but was wrapped up tightly and was a constant source of pain. She longed to go outside but Oa'no, her primary caretaker, had forbid her from leaving the germ free until further notice.

Since the crisis had ended Claire had found a fast friend in one of the few other female avatar drivers. They had quite a bit in common despite the obvious differences in personality. While she knew Tess had been on Pandora when the RDA was forcibly evacuated she was shocked to learn her friend had been one of the drivers that had seized control of the base when most of the RDA's military might was attacking the Well of Souls. Her grit dealing with the invading soldier from the _Centurion_ made much more sense in light of that fact.

The loss of his avatar had been a hard blow for Don and though he tried his best to make light of it Claire knew he was saddened that specific casualty. She wanted to cheer him up but with hostile relations between the Pandorans and Earth the prospect of a replacement was grim. It was one of the reasons Claire was not in her avatar at the moment as she didn't want to keep hitting it home that among the three of them he was the only one no longer a driver.

"How's the arm?" Claire asked.

"Sore, still." Tess sighed. "But it feels better every day. Max said it doesn't look like there will be any permanent damage but it'll leave a nasty scar."

The door to the room opened and Oa'no strode in. While he refused the idea of a medical uniform he had taken to putting on avatar clothes. They were simply easier to keep clean which was a primary concern of the Na'vi healer once he'd grasped the concept of infections.

"The two of you had better be clean if you are here." He said. They switched to Na'vi for his benefit while he eyed Tess' bandages.

"I will assume we are." Don grinned.

"If Donnaber'om finds this arm not well, you will bring trouble to me." Oa'no said. "She will rage like the bringer of death."

"Perhaps you should form the bond with her as a hunter does to tame a wild creature." Tess suggested.

"If that would calm her angry heart then show me her queue and it will be done." Oa'no said oblivious to the joke. "Stretch your arm Tessokin."

"That would be freaky." Tess said in English.

"Oa'no, may I ask you a question?"

"I am open Clairrrouga." He said while feeling along Tess' arm.

"Are you happy here with us? Being away from your cherished ones and your Hometree?"

The pensive healer thought a moment before replying. "Much is different. Many things I miss. It is worth it to learn from your healers and empower my people with your knowledge. I am not sad."

She contemplated his answer while Oa'no concluded his exam. "Consume more meat Tesssokin." He ordered. "You will be ready to draw a bow in nine days time."

"This is good. My mate has been complaining of my absence during the hunt." Tess grinned. Ears twitching Oa'no excused himself and they switched back to English.

"Do you know how to shoot a bow in the first place?" Don asked.

"Of course I do. Who do you think brings home the friggin' bacon around here?"

"Um…I hadn't really thought about it."

"We do. Us drivers. I mean, we grow plants and stuff but when the base need meat we're the ones out in the woods getting it."

"Huh."

"Hey Tess," Claire asked, "are there any other Omaticaya that live on the base too? The guards don't stay here do they?"

"You mean Arashtka and his boys? Nah, they're only here for the occasion. The only other Omaticaya that stays here permanently is technically Stan Thompson."

"Is that the guy that's in pod 12 and never seems to leave?"

"Yeah. He was one of the drivers that helped us take Hell's Gate. Jake gave the pod to him as his personal unit when he became a full-fledged clan member a few months ago. He spends more time in there than he does upright."

"I've never seen him in his avatar." Claire remarked.

"It's back at Hometree. He spends most of his time there. He's a computer whiz but he loves braiding rope for some reason."

"Wouldn't his muscles atrophy spending all that time linked up?" Don asked.

"Oh hell yeah they would. We had to put time limits on him, Max forced him do PT and eat right. The Omaticaya nicknamed him 'Long Sleeper' since they started making him take care of himself."

They sat in silence a moment before Tess shifted gears on her. "So Claire...I remember I was askin' you about stayin'. Did you change your mind at all?"

Exchanging a look with Don the brown haired woman felt put on the spot. "I'm...about ninety-five percent sure I want to stay. I just can't shake the feeling I'm going to change my mind and not be able to go back."

"Well, work that crap out girl. They'll be headin' back to Earth in less than a week. I heard the ISV will be refueled in the next couple of days."

"I haven't changed my mind." Don said. "Despite not having my avatar, I think I can do some good. There's so much to study still. What does Earth have that Pandora doesn't Claire?"

"My family. Pianos. Double shot mocha frappuccinos. Romanticomedies." Claire rattled off.

"You're better off without the last two." Tess chuckled.

"Probably. But I have a little more time. I know I'll be able to decide by then."

"Well I'll try not to harass you about it too much. But you're still under my command while you're here, so go link up. You've got a thirty kilometer run ahead of you."

"Do we have to do this every day?" Claire complained.

"Only the days the sun rises. Get to it."

"Man..."

"Have fun with that." Don grinned. "I'm going to do a fifteen meter walk to a sandwich."

"Pray I never run into you in my avatar Don." Claire threatened. "I'll stick you at the top of the highest tree I can find."


	14. Chapter 14

While he'd studied plants most of his career Norm certainly never trained to grow them. Sometimes he felt more like a farmer or administrator than a scientist living in St. Augustine. Still he found working with his hands satisfying in a way he couldn't describe. It wasn't just keeping the base running by providing sustenance for his colleagues. He didn't realize until showing off the base to the newcomers how much pride he took in all the work they had put into the improvements.

It had taken some getting used to when he first put himself in charge of this particular patch of dirt. The plants he'd grown accustomed to being chest level of his avatar now required a ladder to reach the top. The worst was the mask he needed to wear just to take a stroll outside. Once he was as much a part of Pandora as the plants themselves but now the exopack was a constant reminder of his alien nature.

"They're looking good." Someone said behind him and Norm would have jumped out of his skin if his leg was fully healed. He turned to find Jake behind him grinning like an idiot.

"I hate it when you do that." Norm grumbled and returned to his work.

"That's what makes it so funny." His friend said while rubbing a leaf between his long blue fingers. "Remember when you chased me out here the first day we linked up?"

"You know, in retrospect, I'm surprised no one saw what you did coming. How did they not expect you to take off the second you could stand?"

"The look on that tech's face when I pushed past her was priceless." Jake reminisced fondly.

"Max was pretty steamed if I remember right."

"He still brings it up every now and then. Can you believe that?"

"Knowing him yeah I can. Did you come out here just to sneak up on me?"

"Only if. We'll be heading back to Hometree after the last shuttle takes off."

"Sounds like a plan." Norm said and avoided the discussion Jake had really come to have altogether. They'd been over it a million times already; all that was left was to say his goodbyes.

"Max told me about his ideas to get you back in an avatar." The _olo'eykta_n said quietly.

"Oh yeah?" Norm said and tried to sound unconcerned.

"Sounds good. Real good. They get some of their precious damn _tskxe_ and we have a good way to lure their best and brightest all the way here."

"That's if they agree to it." Norm pointed out.

"They will. At least for now. I'm sure eventually they'll want to build up an invasion force but that'll take years to mobilize and send over. I'm positive they'll agree to our terms. On that subject though…"

Norm turned back around to eye Jake. He never started a sentence like that unless it was something serious. "On what subject?"

"Norm Spellman, you are hereby relieved of your duties as ambassador to Earth. I'm not sending you back on the _Centurion_. You're staying here with us. I've picked a different person to make the trip."

Standing with his mouth agape Norm didn't know what to say. He'd known he would be heading back before the ISV arrived but it had been pushed to the farthest reaches of his mind with the events that had unfolded. They had spent hours discussing who would be the best candidate to bring their demands back to their home planet and it had always come back to either him or Jake. While Norm was indescribably glad that he would not be away from Pandora for so long, possibly forever if things went sour, he was also disappointed Jake would entrust such an important task to someone else.

"Max?" he guessed.

"No. Captain Alberon has agreed to represent us."

"What?" Norm wrinkled his nose. "That doesn't make any sense. Why him?"

"Who better than one of the RDA's highest ranked employees? They can't attack his credibility when he works for the company."

"I don't know, it seems like a bad idea. How can we trust him?"

"He's convinced we saved his life. For an old school soldier like him that means a lot. Plus he's giving us everything he has in his cargo bay and then some. I'm sure he's legit, what do we have to lose? Bad press?"

Turning his attention back to his plants Norm shook his head. "You think they'll just send us a bunch of avatars and equipment just like that? Without even a peep?"

"If they don't, Alberon fires every pebble of _tskxe_ into the sun. They'd rather sell the shirts on their backs then let that happen."

"Hmph."

"Don't worry, in a twelve years or so there will be a brand new _uniltìrantokx_ just for you."

"That's cool." Norm said nonchalantly.

"Cool? That should be fantastic news. What's wrong with you?"

Letting out a pent up breath he'd been holding in Norm turned it into a sigh halfway through. "What if they booby trap the avatars somehow? Send them back with a virus or plague to infect all of us? Plant a mini nuke in one the avatar stomachs?"

"Stop worrying. Max is here. If there's a single cell or strand of DNA out of place he'll find it. Remember this is just a trial. They're going to want repeat business from us. It's in their interest to make sure everything is perfect."

"I don't know Jake. I just can't imagine it turning out the way we want it to."

"Norm, you're Omaticaya. You belong in Hometree with the rest of us. You've earned it. Hell, three times now you've earned it. Plus, you're forgetting that I'm your _olo'eyktan_. If I tell you to get your dreamwalker ass to your avatar you better do it and like it."

He had to laugh at the absurdity of it all particularly since the even in question was easily more than a decade away and far from guaranteed. He would try not to get his hopes up but to have the chance at another avatar body…there was nothing he wanted as badly.

"All right, it's worth a try." He conceded.

"That's the spirit! You'll be flying around with me on _ikran_ before you know it."

"Assuming the RDA doesn't come back to blow everything up."

"Well yeah. You can always fly with me in the Samson 'til then."

Norm smiled at the sad memory their conversation triggered. "I miss Trudy."

"I do too." Jake agreed without missing a beat. They sat in silence a few moments while Norm pruned away a few unneeded shoots.

"Neytiri wants to have kids." Jake said suddenly.

Furrowing his brow and not sure if it was a joke Norm turned back to see the very serious face of his friend. "Um…oh."

"Yeah."

Putting down his tools Norm took a seat with Jake on the soil. It was soft and cool on his skin and he stretched out in front of his giant friend.

"So…"

"Yeah."

"Well?"

"I…said I'd have to think about it?" Jake grimaced.

"Oh jeez. What did she say?"

"Um…she kind of smiled and then walked off. I'm not really sure if it was a good reaction or a bad one."

"Hmm. Women."

"Right?"

"Well what's it gonna be _olo'eyktan_?"

"I can't really say no can I?"

"If you don't want to I think you should say…something!" Norm suggested vaguely.

"That would go over well." Jake scoffed. "I'd be like, 'Listen Neytiri, I'm not really into the whole kids thing- oh my god what are you doing with that spear!'"

Norm laughed at the very real possibility of that occurring. "Still, you gotta bring it up."

"Well, it's not that I don't want to. I just never thought about it until she mentioned it. I figured I'd be older, a retired officer and married before I'd think about kids. Like ten or fifteen years from when I first came here."

Chuckling Norm patted Jake's foot. "I think things have changed a little bit since you came up with that plan buddy."

"Yeah yeah, you're right. Wouldn't be so bad would it? I probably won't be doing any of the hard work."

"Spoken like a true father to be." Norm said dryly.

"I just don't want there to be problems." Jake said with a sigh.

"Problems?"

"You know…extra, extra fingers. Two heads."

"Oh. Hmm…should probably talk to Max about that."

"I did. He said it 'should' be fine."

"Well there you go."

"Yeah well I don't like 'should' or 'probably'." Jake complained.

"It'll be fine Jake. Eywa will provide and all that." Norm assured him.

"How exactly does that fit in here?"

"Well, you kicked the RDA off the planet right? She owes you a healthy child right? That should even it up."

"Er…I kinda thought we were even when I made the permanent transfer to this body."

"Crap. I didn't think about that." Norm said and adjusted his exopack. "I guess you'll just have to take a leap on this one."

"Yay." Jake said unenthusiastically. "I suppose now it's just a matter of how he's raised. I mean, does he learn Na'vi or English? Do I teach him how to shoot hoops or make arrows?"

"Both?" Norm offered. "And how are you sure it'll be a boy?"

"Uh…I don't know, I was just guessing."

"You're going to get a girl now just for that." Norm laughed.

"Alright smart ass, he or she will have a good jump shot and have the best damn bow maker the Omaticaya has as a fletching instructor."

"I thought Ma'aa't was the best bowyer?"

"Tch, no, he just talk a lot of trash. My string work makes his look like _'eveng-yä tsko_."

"A child's bow? Your English is slipping Jake."

Grinning the _olo'eyktan_ scratched the back of his head. "I know. The other day I kept referring to my Scorpion as my metal _ikran_ without even realizing it. When I'm out at Hometree I don't think about it but when I'm here going back and forth between Na'vi and English all day sometimes my brain switches words."

"That's a good thing isn't it?"

"I'm not sure yet. I better get going though. Have some things to do."

"Okay. I have plenty of work to catch up on too." Norm nodded.

Standing to tower over him Jake paused before leaving. "I know we haven't spoken about it in a long time but I think you should put a little effort into moving on. She wouldn't have wanted you to drown yourself in work so you wouldn't have to think about it."

"I don't need you to be my counselor Jake." Norm said uncomfortably after staring at the dirt.

"I'm not trying to. Sometimes though people need a kick in the ass to go do what they know they should have been doing in the first place. You're a bachelor, you should be out and about looking for a Mrs. Spellman."

"Yeah well this isn't exactly a great place to meet women if you haven't noticed."

"There's a bit of truth to that." Jake admitted. "But a little birdy also told me that there's a certain someone who may or may not have the hots for St. Augie's own Dr. Norm Spellman."

"What!" Norm blinked and felt his face growing red. "You're making that up."

"Nope. Tell you what, I'll hop on one leg back to the basketball court. If you can beat me there I'll tell you all about it."

Norm was still trying to figure out if it was a joke or not when Jake stood and unsteadily jumped forward on one foot. Dropping his tools Norm pulled a hard, still growing fruit off the plant near him and started to limp after Jake as fast as his body would allow.

"This is so unfair." He muttered. Adjusting the heavy plant missile in his hand he aimed for the back of Jake's ear to disrupt his sense of balance.

* * *

Inside the cafeteria Claire could hear the approach of the Valkyrie. While there had been no problems or reason to suspect them a landing craft put the base on edge until a friendly presence was announced. It was one of several new security protocols Jake had decided to implement to prevent another incident from occurring. She stopped eating her plate of mushy proteins until the voice over the base wide intercom reported, "All clear."

The last of the equipment from the _Centurion_ was being unloaded and there would only be one final shuttle after this one to bring the last of the Earth-bound humans back to the ISV. It would collect the refined unobtanium and antimatter for the trip along with formal terms of trade drafted by the Pandorans.

Don was in the middle of lecturing her on the fascinating subject of Pandoran genome splicing as electric dollies moved cargo in the halls behind him. Claire was looking into her soupy lunch and trying to maintain a detectable interest in what her colleague was talking about. She did not notice that someone had joined them until he spoke.

"I see Don is keeping you from getting bored down here." Huey Freeman said. Claire's head shot up and he was really standing there behind their burly mutual friend.

"Hew!" both she and Don said at the same time.

"I got your postcard." He grinned. "Seems there's been some excitement since then."

"Sit, sit!" Don said eagerly. "What are you doing here? Have you changed your mind? Are you staying? Still leaving? Are you heading back with the last shuttle?"

"Slow down there big guy. No, I'll be going back with this shuttle once it's unloaded and reloaded. I wanted to see the ground now that all the action has died down." The tall man explained.

"Must have been rough up there too." Claire said.

"It was. Nothing like what you guys went through though. Who would have thought Boston's own Don Lee would have come all this way just to be shot while cold-cocking space grunts?"

"We don't grow 'em soft back East." Don said proudly.

"Shame about your avatar though. I'd give you mine if I could."

"I'm not too worried about it. I hear we're sending back some rocks in exchange for new bods. I don't mind as long as I'm on the waiting list." Don said.

"I take it you haven't changed your mind then?" Claire asked.

Smiling sadly Huey answered, "Actually, with all this hubbub I was wondering if either of you were reconsidering."

Don glanced over at her and Claire nodded. "I'll be right back." She excused herself and walked briskly to the living quarters to locate a couple of tightly wrapped packages. Returning to the cafeteria minutes later she rejoined her long time friends and dropped the parcels on the table.

"What are these?"

"Our letters to Earth. They were going to do a final collection in a couple days but since you're here…I would be honored if you delivered these yourself."

Sighing their friend dutifully collected the small bundles. "What made you two want to stay anyway?" he asked them. "It's going to be lonely back home."

"There's seven billion of you, you'll have plenty of company." Don joked. "But seriously? The produce. The produce here is amazing. That and the years worth of base pair cataloging I have to do."

"I don't want to say." Claire blushed. "It's silly. The two of you will laugh."

"Oh come on!"

"Claire, it's us."

"I don't want to." She protested weakly.

"Favor for an old friend before he goes away for a long time?" Huey attempted.

"Ugh. Fine. You bastards." She gave in. "Well…it was a really pretty sunrise I watched."

"Oh my god, hahaha!"

"Wow, did you see that after a long walk on the beach with your dream man astronaut Mike Dexter?"

"Shut up! I knew I shouldn't have said anything!" she screeched.

"Okay, okay, we were kidding." Huey held up his hands. "I really want to know, what was special about it?"

"…"

"We're sorry Claire! Please, tell us." Huey said with a half smile.

"Tch. I guess, whatever. Anyway…I saw a sunrise through my avatar's eyes. There were just these colors in it I've never seen before with my real eyes and I know I would miss that. The way the sun came up through the mountains and lit up the forest was just…I could hear prolemures calling and…well you just had to be there. Plus it's like Don said, there's so much to do here scientifically. Everything I know about Pandoran xenobiology isn't even a scratch on the surface."

Huey nodded soberly and said, "You're willing to stay even if it means you might be shot at again?"

"Especially because of that. I've seen the kind of people that would love to start up again here after leveling all of the hard work the Na'vi and the other Pandorans have put in. I won't sit by and let them build another thousand highways where forests used to be. It's too late for Earth, but not here."

"What she said." Don chimed in. "I hope you can understand."

"I do." Huey acknowledged. "You two are braver than I could ever be. I'm going to miss the hell out of you guys but at least I know you made the right choice for yourselves."

The rest of the time they had they spent talking for hours about new discoveries and the things they would miss about home. When the base intercom informed them they had thirty minutes until the shuttle departed they stood to say their goodbyes. Don and Huey first shook hands but soon it turned into one of the big man's signature bear hugs. When it was her turn Claire tried not to make a scene but began to bawl uncontrollably when she put her head on Huey's chest. He patted her back and when she pulled away to dry her cheeks his eyes were moist as well.

"Don't cry little sister." He murmured in Na'vi. "I will see you again one day."

She did her best to look happy and hugged him again. They accompanied their old friend to the front of the base where the main airlock would take him out to the tarmac. Huey pulled on his exopack and waved as he headed forward.

"So long guys!"

"Bye Hew!" Don shouted.

"_Eywa ngahu tsmukan_!" Claire added.

"Get some of that good pie for me back home!" Don laughed.

"You bet!"

"Hew! Send us a postcard!" Claire said. He waved one last time before engaging the door and closing it in front of them. The two of them stood there a while looking at the blank wall and both wondered if they had said goodbye to their last link to a dying planet they used to call home.

Don put an arm around her shoulders as they turned back to the base. "Come on kid, let's go find some ice cream or something." He suggested.

"It better not be low fat." She said glumly. They headed back into the base to resume their new lives.


	15. Chapter 15

Bioluminescence washed over the small pond and the surrounding area high up in the mountains. The towering plateau's natural basin helped it support the plant life that gave it a green summit in the daytime; there was little room for much else. It jutted out from the sheer mountain side and ended abruptly with cliffs that likely meant certain doom to anything going over them without wings. A black Samson lay in wait under the cover of darkness and took up nearly a third of the available solid land the pond did not claim. There, surrounded by living light and reminiscent of the first time, two Na'vi bodies writhed together in unison on the grass.

They fell into a sweaty, spent heap before separating only to cool down. Queues still connected they did not need to open their eyes to find each other's hand and intertwine fingers together. Panting Jake sat up and reached over to the nearby pond for a handful of cool water to splash on his face. A second helping moistened his parched throat and he lay back down on the flattened grass. Neytiri edged towards his and he rolled to his side to accommodate her. Moving against him she spooned herself along his body so the back of her head rested under his chin. Their legs and arms locked together in front of them as their heart rates slowly returned to normal.

The way they were laying reminded Jake of when she carried him from Site 26 to rest a few hours before returning back to the rest of the world after their great battle. He felt rather than saw the tiny smile crease her perfect features. Jake saw himself in his mind's eye through the shared memory from Neytiri's point of view. As she clutched his pale body those many months ago he could feel her adoration for him even in his true form.

"You were so small." She said pleasantly. "Little hands like a child."

"I can't help if that's as big as we get."

"You must have been so tiny when you came into this world." Images and spoken words of Neytiri's conversation with her mother concerning children days earlier came flooding into Jake's mind. They were not memories she had meant to share and he felt a sudden spike of anxiety. Even as he processed the new data almost as quickly as it came his own memories of her strange behavior around that time went the other direction through their queues into her mind.

"Truth comes out. I knew your mom had something to do with it." He said. Her fears and anxiety collided with his playfulness and lack of surprise thereby dulling the negative emotions when she realized he wasn't the least bit upset.

"So she wants some little Jakes and Neytiris as repayment? Can't say I wouldn't expect something like that from a mother in law."

He purposefully avoided answering the question looming large in her mind and the source of a great deal of her anxiety. It was almost lost under the entire incident surrounding the _Centurion_ but he could trace it going back many more months before. At first she dared not think anything to avoid giving herself away but the longer he waited in smug contentedness the more her curiosity grew. When it dawned on her she was being toyed with her the cautious curious feeling turned sharply to a jagged annoyance and she said out loud, "Jake!"

"Yes?" He answered innocently. "Something wrong?"

She elbowed him gently in the stomach and Jake chuckled to himself at the game he was playing. Breathing out he expanded his consciousness and soaked in every one of her swirling emotions. Irritation, indignation and impatience dominated but traces of doubt, worry and uncertainty plagued her. She truly did not know what he would say and it had been gnawing away at her for some time.

Jake hugged her tightly and thought of earlier in the day when he'd been trying to think of a good name for a potential son. Immediately he was beset by a crashing tidal wave of memories of Neytiri doing just that on numerous occasions. He was surprised he didn't catch the one immediately following himself falling asleep at Site 26 as it was the first of its kind. He rode high on her joy and reflected it off his own. Her miasma of feelings both positive and negative were blown away in the near instant process they were sharing. Replacing it was a warm, bright jubilation that reverberated and amplified itself off the both of them. So many things he could tell her, that he loved her, that he was glad every day to be on Pandora but anything he could think of using words was unnecessary. No simple speech would be able to match showing the blazing affection he held for her.

The first inkling Jake had that time had been passing was when a glow made it though his heavy Na'vi eyelid. Blinking he saw the beginning of day lighting the horizon. Neytiri was breathing rhythmically and nearly asleep but not completely out yet.

"Must we go back?" She murmured.

"Not until tomorrow."

"Good." She yawned. "Another day I have you."

Getting comfortable Jake settled in for a well earned rest. Sometimes he felt like he was destined to live a life of hardship and battles but moments like these made them worthwhile. Hours later he woke as the sun was coming up through the mountains. The sky had grown brighter since he'd closed his eyes just a moment ago and he was glad to have another day of this ahead of him. Still connected to Neytiri he had the vague impression she was dreaming but he could not make out what about.

Rolling onto his back to look up at the half-darkened sky he spotted above him an _a__tokirina' _drifting by on the wind almost within arm's reach. Grasping at it the glowing seed hovered just out of his range. It swept downward and bounced off Neytiri's leg a couple of times before continuing on its journey. Smiling to himself Jake waved at the floating seed as it rode the wind away from them.

"Right back at ya old girl." He said in English.

Half waking Neytiri whispered, "Who are you talking toooo…."

"No one." Jake said ran his fingers around the edges of her face. "No one at all. Go back to sleep." Laying back down with her he too nodded off under the growing light of Alpha Centauri A.

* * *

Crowded around a large circular table that had once been used for strategic planning sat five humans and one N'avi. Piles of unobtanium chips worth millions of dollars were traded back and forth by the cards in each of their hands. Norm sat to the right of the dealer and former crew chief Mike Dowds. On his left sat Max and Oa'no and past Dowds Leiutenant Nguyen and Ensign Deskel. The large room was otherwise empty but was made full with the sounds of their laughter and good-natured arguments.

Despite a number of unmarked brown bottles around his part of the table the Vietnamese engineer had been cleaning house and had amassed a pile of chips large enough to retire on several times over. "Read 'em and weep boys, pair of kings." The triumphant officer said announcing his winning combination yet again.

"Dang." Norm said as he stared at his ace-high hand. He was never very good at card games but it seemed to be effortless for everyone else including the only person in the room that had never seen a poker game until recently.

"You got a mean luck streak." Dowds commented as he shuffled. "Normally I'm unstoppable in these parts."

"It's in the blood." Nguyen laughed.

"I'm pretty sure he just cheats somehow." Deskel grumbled.

"Don't be a sore loser ensign." The lieutenant said as Dowds dealt out a new round. Norm received five cards with absolutely no strategic value which had been the story of the night for him.

"Five for me."

"Don't give away your hand or anything Norm." Max said sarcastically as Dowds passed him a new set.

"I didn't know I've be dealing with pros." Norm said and looked at his cards which actually showed some promise. A pair of sixes and nines along with an errant jack rounded out his new hand. Careful not to look too excited Norm pushed a good portion of his small pile into the middle of the table. Half the table folded on the spot and the rest added their chips together to make a substantial pot.

"See, here's a classic beginner's mistake." Nguyen pointed out. "Norm's been coming up empty all night but he's got some action here. Nothing spectacular but something. This is where you can use the amount of chips you have to bully the rest of the table. I'll see him and raise the last of what he's got since I can take it." Nguyen added just enough chips to take up the rest of Norm's pile.

Giving up the last of his unobtanium fragments Norm took the plunge and pushed everything he had into the center. The rest of the table was out except for Oa'no who added his contribution to the now mountain sized pile of chips easily worth upwards of thirty million dollars back home.

"Now here's where things get interesting. If Norm wins he's got some breathing room and I can take the loss. If he loses he's done and he knows it. So either way I win because he's the on on the ropes and from this I can judge what kind of hand he's willing to bet big on." Nguyen explained.

"Now Oa'no is the x-factor here. He doesn't have a tell I can pick out from this side that OX pack, he's playing well despite being a total neophyte when it comes to the game. I'm gonna make an educated guess and say I can beat the both of them and put Norm away while putting a good dent in Oa'no's action. Call."

Putting his hand down Norm watched Nguyen's sly smile as he laid down three tens. Oa'no carefully laid out his cards on top of each other to reveal two queens and three sevens for a full house.

"Dang."

"Boom! Take that Lieutenant."

"I win yes?" the Na'vi healer asked.

"Yeah you did." Nguyen said grudgingly. "Beginner's luck."

"Oa'no, bringing the heat!" Dowds congratulated him as he pulled the large pile over to his side. "What does this mean?" Oa'no asked Max who provided the best possible translation. While English was one of the more difficult languages to learn even for other Earthlings it was the slang that stumped Na'vi learners the most.

Without any more chips Norm went to get himself another beer. Apparently what they were enjoying came from the late Colonel Quaritch's personal stock tucked away in his living quarters. Perhaps it was the bad memories associated with the man that kept the room virtually untouched until the _Centurion_'s arrival. The military men had a nose for alcohol like bloodhounds and had found the stash in hours instead of years.

"So tomorrow's the day huh?" Max was saying when Norm returned from the cooler.

"Yep." Nguyen acknowledged. "Most of the crew will be in deep freeze before we start the build up to cruising speed."

"Are you guys going to be okay when you get back?"

"We'll be fine. They can throw the book at us if they want to but we've been acting under the captain's orders the whole time. If they want to take Hamlin's side they can be my guest."

"What if they go after him? The captain I mean." Max continued.

"I wouldn't worry about the captain. Not only is he one of their best and most experienced commanders he's a diplomat for an entire planet. They wouldn't dare touch him now. Besides, I've known Jim a long time. He's the most thorough bastard you ever met. He'll probably spend six months hammering out contingencies before he goes to sleep. Your man Sully couldn't have picked a better emissary."

"I'm more worried about the RDA being bankrupt when we get back." Nguyen added. "You have any idea how many zeros are in the check they should be cutting me?"

"Bank-rrupt." Oa'no mimicked to no one in particular.

"You're a true company man Marty." Deskel said. "What about you guys here? I heard your people are trying to buy avatars with unobtanium, that true?" Deskel asked.

"That's an angle me and Jake came up with." Max confirmed. "He took my idea a step further though. He doesn't just want new avatars for the trained drivers, he wants a link pod and a body for every person here."

"What? That's news to me." Norm said.

"That's what he said." Max held up his hands. "He thinks if everyone has an avatar and sees the land like he did they'll appreciate Pandora that much more. Plus this way Earth gets a trickle of unobtanium. That's just the first step though. Eventually he wants to set up an avatar Hometree somewhere near the base."

"I didn't know about the Hometree bit." Dowds said indignantly.

"There's not going to be any machines there, what good would you be Mike?" Max teased.

"Would there be real Na'vi there or just drivers in this village?" Deskel asked.

"Well I imagine some of the Omaticaya will be there to show the drivers what to do but I think he wants it to be just drivers eventually. He doesn't want them living together just yet."

"Hmm."

"Drrrreamwalkerrrs no want to be Omaticaya?" Oa'no spoke up.

"That's not it." Max shook his head. "He doesn't want everyone who comes to Pandora to automatically be one of the People."

"Why?" Oa'no asked in Na'vi. "Are dreamwalkers not the friends of Eywa? Has not Jakesully himself shown the worth of you few sky people?"

"New dream walkers must prove themselves before earning their place. The ones who have fought for the Na'vi are not in question but we cannot know the hearts of sky people from so far away." Max answered.

"I see. They must be tested as a blade is before combat."

"Yes, like that."

"Um, what was all that for the rest of us?" Dowds asked.

"Sorry." Max laughed. "He just wanted to know why the drivers wouldn't just go to the Omaticaya Hometree. We don't want everyone who shows up to immediately be accepted into their home."

"Hang on a minute." Dowds said. "You mean Jake wants a village out somewhere in the trees all on its own, self sufficient?"

"Yeah?"

"And he wants all the avatars there which in the long run means everyone in St. Augie will have a body double?"

"Right so far."

"Um, hello, what about the kids?"

"What kids?" Max crossed his arms.

"You're gonna have a bunch of people out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but build and hunt. Eventually someone's gonna get bored and find out what it's like to do it in their avatar bodies. That's gonna lead to kids unless you guys have a plan to stop that from happening."

"Uh…"

"Oh."

"Yeah…"

"So then you've got this kid." Dowds went on. "He's his own man, no link needed, no idea what Earth is like but he's still got human DNA. What does he tell the other Na'vi kids when they ask why he has five fingers instead of four? That his parents are really tiny pinkies in metal boxes a hundred klicks away?"

The half-abandoned card game stopped again for the players to consider what the mechanical ace was saying. Norm cleared his throat and said, "Well Mike, to be honest, I don't really know."

"It's a good question." Max admitted.

"Someone's got to balance you eggheads out with some common sense."

"That wouldn't be that big of a deal would it?" Nguyen asked. "I mean, Sully is your leader right? If everyone is open minded enough for that a few avatar kids shouldn't be a problem."

"Okay, well, check this out." Dowds said. "How about those two same drivers decide since they're in a mood for lovin' they knock boots in their human bodies too. I mean they're as good as married right? So then Mrs. Driver gets all round and suddenly little Johnny Blue out in the woods has a baby brother here at St. Augie. How do the parents explain to the two of them they got a flesh and blood brother that ain't exactly flesh and blood?"

Norm thought about that as Max rapidly translated for Oa'no. The big Na'vi responded with a rolling laugh and a long comment. "What did he say?" Dowds asked.

"That us sky people are too concerned with dividing ourselves into groups. The children would accept being brothers much easier than the adults would simply because they wouldn't know they weren't supposed to. If they earn their place among the People, what difference does it make where they sleep?"

"You know, it doesn't sound like avatar children would be that bad." Norm said thoughtfully. "Jake's always talking about strengthening ties with other clans and brotherhood. What could be closer than having cross species families in St. Augustine and out in forest?"

"I guess." Max said. "They would be a good buffer between Na'vi and humans from Earth too. They'd literally be from both planets."

"Friggin' A." Nguyen toasted his bottle and drained the last of it before heading off to find another.

"Hmph." Dowds grunted as his acceptance of the situation.

"Speaking of which, how do you guys decide who gets to stay?" Deskel asked. "Is it just scientists and drivers?"

"Anyone that genuinely wants to help and has the skills to back it up we'll consider." Norm answered. "Just being well trained isn't what we're looking for. That's why we chose the people on the list and interviewed them personally. You don't have to be an egghead though it's a plus. Take Mike for instance. All he's good for is fixing things."

"Yeah I- hey, screw you!"

"I'm kidding, relax." Norm smiled. "But really, he's a good example. Besides being great with machines he was the one that set Max up with that dozer in the video you saw. He also sabotaged a bunch of the rigs that weren't taken on the assault. When he asked to stay it was a no-brainer for Jake."

"Ya damn right it was." The man in question added.

"So uh…" Deskel started. "You guys have room for a pilot? I'm no good with repairs but I could learn to fly one of those Scorpions in my sleep. After Valkyrie and ISV training it should be-"

"Are you serious?" A flabbergasted Nguyen asked as he sat down.

"Yeah I am." The pilot nodded. "How 'bout it?"

"Uh…well, we'll have to run it by Jake." Max said.

"What are you saying Brian? You might never go home." Nguyen said. "Think about it. Think about all the zeros waiting for you back home."

"I have been." Deskel confessed. "Ever since they tied me up and almost killed my captain. I'm not like you Marty. I don't have a wife or kids or family waiting for me back home. What good is a paycheck without something real to spend it on? I want to stay here. I want to see that glowing tree they were trying to blow up. I want to live in the avatar village."

The engineer stared at his friend a few moments as if trying to make him change his mind by force of will. "Hot damn, you do." Nguyen said in surprise. "I'll be a sonuvabitch." He put his arm around the pilot's shoulders and Norm breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Gonna miss you back home pal. But you do right by these tree huggers will ya?" The engineer grinned wide.

"I'll drink to that!" Dowds said and held out his bottle.

"Bottoms up gentlemen." Max said and put his drink out with all of the others. Norm hit his together with the others and they clinked glass before taking giant swigs until it spilled down their faces. Laughing hysterically as beer ran down shirts and splattered on the table only Norm noticed Oa'no shaking his head.

"_Tawtute_." Norm heard him mutter under his breath.


	16. Chapter 16

The day of departure had come upon them at last. The final Valkyrie had been fueled up and was ready to take the Earth bound humans on a nearly six year trip to the Terran system. The Na'vi gathered nearby to send them off along with all of St. Augustine's human occupants. Alberon, his engineer and a stern looking black female Claire had only seen once before stood in front of a large crowd. Assembled in a semi circle around the open rear hatch of the Valkyrie the captain was talking and shaking hands with Jake Sully and the rest of the St. Augustine higher ups. At the head of the group was Jake's beautiful wife and his best warriors along with Max Patel and Norm Spellman.

Among them was the designated driver pilot that she had met earlier. Apparently he had been accorded the privilege to stay and part of the speaking going was him saying farewell to the other humans. Claire watched from the crowd of people and behind them the dozens of Na'vi towering over their human counterparts. At the captain's signal the ones returning to Earth waved their goodbyes and began piling into the Valkyrie.

Only Alberon and his three immediate subordinates remained behind to say a formal sendoff. Stepping out from the masses Jake raised his hands up to quiet conversation. "We wish you a short, uneventful trip home." He boomed loud enough to be heard across the tarmac. "We only hope that all of our visitors can be like you."

"You have given us a great task." Alberon said with a nearly as loud voice. "We will not fail to bring home the truth of what happened here and the kindness you have shown us, Na'vi and human. We are honored to have known you!"

Applause broke out and Jake held up his hands after a few moments to settle it down. "It times of peace it is tradition to offer gifts to visiting clans. Take this with you back to Earth and show them that we don't have to be enemies."

Three Omaticaya brought out a giant tapestry that was an amazing example of the clan's craftsmanship. Almost ten meters long it depicted scenes of peace between Na'vi and humans in various wilderness scenes. Loading it reverently onto the shuttle with the assistants Alberon came back out to wave to the crowd.

"Goodbye friends!" he said.

"May the Four Winds carry you home! _Eywa ngahu_ !" Jake shouted back.

Moving far enough away from the shuttle to avoid its exhaust the group watched the ship lift off the ground and begin rising upwards as its engines geared up for escape velocity. It sounded off as it departed for the sky and afterward a much longer trip through inky space back to a small blue planet. Watching the huge craft shrink to a tiny speck Claire felt not regret but relief. She knew she would feel one or the other and was glad to be free of the nagging reservations which had been haunting her.

Jake turned back to face his people and changed over to Na'vi when he spoke. "We have overcome a great challenge today and turned enemies to friends. But this was just one of many tests that will come from the sky. We will always be watching, always looking upwards at the stars for the sky people to return. We will greet them in peace but if they give us war, we will turn them back from where they came once more."

Hoops and cries went up among the Na'vi behind them but there were a few human shouts of agreement as well. "Eywa watches over us all from start to finish. It is our turn to watch over her. No one will ever take this land from us ever again!"

The crowd roared in assent and Jake threw up his arm, hand in hand with his fierce mate. Around Claire even the humans shouted and the voices in unison shook the air around them like it did when the _Centurion_'s visitors first arrived. Caught up in the excitement Claire added her voice to the deafening mix even though she could not hear it.

Eventually the massed humanoids broke up into smaller groups and began to organize themselves. From the trees Na'vi began carrying out mountains of food onto the tarmac along with various forms of entertainment and games. Most of the humans present began to move back to the base but some stayed to enjoy the festivities out on the airfield. Claire waved to Don as he headed into the base but she remained outside a little while longer to watch the celebrating Na'vi. Some were dancing and singing while were more serious but there were no sad faces among the Omaticaya.

Walking through their ranks she had a few surprised glances from some of them but none hostile or intimidating. The children were the most curious and a few followed her around asking questions. She was happy to converse with them and share whatever details of Earth she could.

Finally heading inside Claire discovered that the main cafeteria had been decorated and readied for a human style party as well. The tables had been pushed to the walls and monitors had been set up to play holovids along with classic sporting events. The blend of foods laid out for consumption was uniquely Pandoran and made up of both native and base prepared dishes. The large bowl of green punch Claire sampled turned out to be heady as well as slightly fermented.

The entire base seemed to be crammed into that one large room and most of them were laughing. Games from Earth both real and virtual were being enjoyed and stories were being told over green punch. An hour or so into the party Jake made an appearance with an OX pack on and spent a couple hours with the humans clapping backs, talking and shaking hands. Claire stood with Tess watching a large holo-bowling competition in which Max Patel thoroughly destroyed any opposition. Not even the _olo'eyktan_ with his considerable strength advantage could best him and Max's friends rewarded their inaugural champion with a celebratory shower of ice water.

It was late when people began heading to their living quarters. Claire was a little tipsy navigating her way back to her room but managed to get herself into bed. She lay there with a warm feeling in her stomach replaying the day's events in her mind. It was a welcome feeling and she nearly fell asleep before someone's voice caught her ear.

Curious she forced herself up to listen to the sound. It was coming from nearby out in the hall but she could not quite make out who was talking. Still dressed she tip toed to the door and opened it to clearly hear Norm Spellman speaking a few meters away and around the corner. She picked up on the conversation as she moved quietly towards its source.

"-not sure about this." Norm was saying. "I don't think I'm ready."

"Don't chicken out now Norm, just go knock on the door and say what's what." Someone replied. It took Claire a moment to realize it was Jake's voice distorted by a radio feed.

"What if it doesn't work out and we have to keep running into each other and working together?" Norm protested.

"If you don't go say something right now I'm going to come down there and do it for you."

"I don't think that's necessary-"

"You're going to make me do it aren't you? I'm going to have to get up out of my very comfortable – no dammit, Neytiri, stay out of this!"

There was some low mumbling Claire couldn't hear but she decided she'd listened long enough. Coming around the corner she found Norm with his hand to the comm unit on his neck. His eyes went wide and he stammered, "Cl-Claire, hi, I was, um, just uh, passing by."

"Really? That's not what I heard." She said.

Norm didn't realize he had been transmitting and dropped his hand from the button. "Busted." Jake's voice came out from the tiny speakers. "Hey, Claire, Normhassomethingtoaskyou-" he got in before Norm quickly turned the unit off.

"Thanks, Jake." He muttered.

"You wanted to ask me something hmm?" Claire said playfully.

"Well, um…I mean….there's a waterfall a few kilometers from here…at night the whole things lights up from the algae moving downstream…would you like to see it sometime?"

"Why Dr. Spellman, are you asking me out on a date?" she grinned.

"No! No. I think so. Yeah. Yes. Yes I am."

"Sure took your time didn't you?" she said with a smile. Somewhere along the line word must have reached Norm that she had been strangely attracted to him since they first arrived. It felt like a silly crush considering she hadn't originally planned on staying but now it was more of an opportunity.

"I uh…I guess I did." He said awkwardly.

"Are we just going to stand here all night or are you going to kiss me?"

He obliged her enthusiastically and erased any lingering regrets of not leaving with the shuttle earlier that day. Everything that had happened since arriving and now at this moment told her she had made the right choice.

And maybe, just maybe, it would be fun.

The End


	17. Author's Notes

Well thanks for reading and reviewing peeps! It's been a blast writing this piece and I'm glad to have brought some enjoyment to other fans. Hopefully this will have exercised the last of my Avatar demons and I can stop thinking of revising scenes and whatnot. Originally I was planning on a series of one shots to wrap up a few loose ends and address a few things I didn't get to work into Ever Skyward. I do have other things to get to but I'd like to least outline some of the things my imagination has come up with.

To clarify, these will NOT be written up; they are simply rough outlines I had come up with to better round out ES. It is very unlikely that I will do any more Avatar work.

- Original story was about Jake defecting the moment he was accepted into the Omaticaya camp and thus making for a much more decisive battle that would likely take place at Hell's Gate after the gang sabotaged most of the RDA's heavy weaponry. This was actually the idea I had in the theater while in the middle of watching Avatar for the first time but I scrapped it as it was much more my own thinking than the character's. The immediate allegory between the (N)(a)ti(v)e (') Amer(i)cans of history was the first thing I thought of when Quaritch was giving his intro speech but it wouldn't make any sense for Jake to think that way.

One shots:

- Jake teaching his adolescent son English and Na'vi while they practice making bows and shooting handguns in the beginnings of the avatar village.

- St. Augustine must power down for a system reset last half a day. Claire sneaks up on Jake while he's sleeping, startling him awake with firecrackers and proving her hunch that he is free of the need for a link pod

- Neytiri subduing the _palulukan_ from Ever Skyward with toxin dipped arrows, a heavy stone mallet and a log trap in order to make _tsahaylu_ with it

- A dying Arashtka (possibly from injuries sustained in ES, scrapped) transfers his consciousness into Neytiri's palulukan . Jake marks its skull plate with an X so that it is not attacked by the Omaticaya. It is spotted around Hometree but never assaults any of the Na'vi

- Once back on Earth Alberon incites humanitarian and anti-trust groups against the RDA while its stocks sharply decline due to the bad publicity and unobtanium shortfall. As he prepares a UN tribunal against RDA executives a Colonel Quaritch clone, grown since the arrival of the ISV carrying Selfridge and the original RDA outcasts, assassinates Alberon in his home. Nearly making a clean getaway the clone is ambushed by Alberon's two sons and killed. They then break into the RDA's genetics facility and erase Quaritch's DNA records

- Donna Bergstrom, years after successful avatar trade begins with Earth, receives her own avatar and forcefully takes Oa'no as a mate, who lost his in the battle with the RDA. The two of them are appointed leaders of the avatar village 30 km from St. Augstine.

- Norm marries Claire and they have a daughter named Thomasina or Sina for short. Norm finally receives a new avatar and for his tireless service to Pandora and Omaticaya is granted permission to occupy it permanently. He soon has another daughter named A'ansi with Claire's avatar and all four move to the avatar village. The two children become a formidable hunting pair with Sina drawing out larger prey and A'ansi dealing the killer blow

Let those stir around in the old noodle a bit. They've been bouncing around in mine for some time. Photos uploaded as promised, I'm out.

-Z


End file.
